Apr
13
Filed Under (Ethnomusicology, General) by Rob on 13-04-2008

A few months ago, Rob spent some time in the remote village of Bago in Togo…

Here’s a typical courtyard scene in this poor yet enchanting village:

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Little was known about its music, so Rob was drafted in to find out more. It was intriguing to find out early on that, although the village only has a couple of thousand inhabitants, it is divided into six separate quartiers or neighbourhoods. I couldn’t tell where one started and the other ended, but all the locals knew. Each of these neighbourhoods was a separate ‘clan’, each of which settled in Bago from other parts of West Africa. The Bago-Koussountou language has therefore developed almost like a creole – as a blend of the languages of all six ethnic groups. In fact, this can be seen in the language’s classification, which is as follows:

Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, North, Gur, Central, Southern, Grusi, Eastern

Wow! What variety! So, the first job was to find out which instruments are used and also which song genres exist in the village. This included doing some observation and recording at night time, which was very atmospheric and lots of fun!

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Here’s what I discovered:

bago-song-genres.doc

Following all this research, I recorded a good number of songs using the traditional styles. This was both for archiving purposes as well as to encourage the usage of traditional music. Cassettes have been made and folk are enjoying them.

Here are some of the Bago instruments: TL: The Gbale (or double cow bell), TR: the Sakasse – a gourd with shaky bits round the outside, BL: the Okoyise – two gourds floating in water and hit with sticks, and BR: the Lunga, also known as a talking drum or griot drum.

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Finally, here are a couple of YouTube vids of the Bago folk digging their local beats:

1. Performing in the village square

2. A fascinating ladies’ circle dance involving pagnes.

3. A toothless old bloke does some impressive drumming with and without a stick.



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[…] a look at Rob’s post about his trip, including some of what he discovered, and some youtube videos of dancing in the […]


[…] a look at Rob’s post about his trip, including some of what he discovered, and some youtube videos of dancing in the […]