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Archive for the ‘Beninese culture’ Category1. Recycling is part of everyday life, which can result in some extremely resourceful uses of waste:
2. People always find a was to achieve their goals, however unconventional this may seem to the Western psyche:
3. Life is so laid-back there. Nobody is in a rush, but things still get done (eventually…) 4. There is always good humour amongst the people, even in the face of adversity:
5. However stressful your day, there is something around every corner that will bring a smile to your face:
That’s why I love Africa. (Thanks to Eddy Bouchard for sending me these, and to the originator of these photos, who remains unknown to me). Here are some more cultural curiosities from the blog, all of which make Africa such an intriguing place to live: African roads Thanks for reading! One thing I LOVE about Africa is the incredible drumming, which is almost everywhere! Wow! This guy knows how to drum, eh? For my thesis, I had to transcribe the rhythms of various drumming ensembles in Benin – a real challenge, I can tell you! It’s not so much a case of what is the time signature of the piece? but more what time signature is each individual playing in and how on EARTH do these all fit together?! Western rhythmic notation falls short for such a task. What’s the difference between transcription and notation? I know, but do you??? If you don’t, then take this course and find out! Finally, here are a few more cool African drumming videos I have recorded over the years: A Nawdm lady playing double drums in northern Togo The amazing blind drummer in central Benin, playing home-made drums with great skill! Ngangam musicians in north-eastern Togo, including a lady playing a kapok pod filled with stones. The old bloke in central Togo, who puts one beater in his mouth, then removes it when he needs it. If I’m honest, even 5 months on there are still moments when I feel like an alien in this cold country with its binge drinking, health and safety regulations, materialism and over-keen political correctness… Still, mustn’t be too harsh on Old Blighty – here we have Quality Street, zebra crossings that work, cheese & onion crisps and… X Factor!! But the strange thing is that, even though I missed home every Christmas and longed for frost, real Christmas trees and log fires, I still find myself missing the Benin Christmas and the friends we spent it with. So, like a true musician, I wrote a song (well some lyrics at least!) to express my feelings. Here it is: Merry Christmas to you, wherever you are! * Hot, humid ‘five-shirts-a-day’ weather. (See here) * The ubiquitous song which goes ‘Yovo yovo bonsoir, ça va bien merci’. (See here) * Having to sleep under a mosquito net and take malaria prophylaxis. (See here) * Getting malaria regularly in spite of the above. (See here, here and here) * Power cuts for up to 30 hours. (See here) * That it’s not safe to drive at night in most of the country. (see here) * People following you, asking for money. * Having your windscreen washed at the traffic lights, whether you want it or not. * Being constantly aware of the risks of ceiling fans. * Thick, blue clouds of Cotonou pollution brought on by 1,000’s of zemidjans. (see here) (in no particular order) * Big, fresh, juicy mangos for 30p each. * Simple, cheap, fun public transport, in the form of the zemidjan. * Being able to speak Fon and other interesting languages every day. * Sunshine (what’s that look like again?!) and warm weather in general. * Having a tough 4×4 and driving it anywhere. * Friends like Brian Mitton, Matt Price, Bill, Reggy & Mathieu Assogba. * Being warmly greeted by strangers as you walk down the street. * Cheap fuel – diesel was 55p a litre there!! * Bab’s Dock – a wonderfully relaxing resort on the lagoon. * Bissap juice. Mmmmmmm! Rob, Lois and family leave Benin this week after four years working there… Yes, it’s hard to believe that much time has passed so quickly, or that we’re already leaving this country which we’ve come to know and love. We return to the UK for a few months then back to West Africa, but not to Benin. Guess we’ll have to change the name of the blog now (any suggestions?) We face going back to the UK with trepidation; having spent so long here, Britain feels like a foreign culture to us now. Furthermore, Britain has moved on and changed in the past 4 years like we have, so re-adapting will be an ‘interesting’ process. Furthermore, we are very sad to leave behind all the adventures and fun of Africa, not to mention the many friends we have made here.
This is a collage of just some (but by no means all) of the amazing, talented, interesting and just plain nice people we have got to know whilst living in Benin. We have worked with them, prayed with them, laughed with them, eaten with them, jammed with them, travelled with them, partied with them and become attached to them. Some left months ago, others very recently. Still others we leave behind in Benin. But we thank God for all of them and hope to stay in touch and meet again some day. Goodbye Benin friends Goodbye zemidjans Goodbye Fon speaking Goodbye home of amazing polyrhythms Goodbye Land Rover driving on dirt roads Goodbye dramatic thunderstorms Goodbye Fulani cheese and lush, juicy mangos Goodbye bustling, colourful markets Goodbye sunshine Goodbye Cotonou Goodbye Benin When the comedienne Victoria Wood visited Ghana a while back she commented that “God seems to be everywhere in Ghana.” The same could be said of Togo and Benin… Below are a few examples we’ve encountered here. TL: The “Christ Bar Café” in Ganhi, Cotonou TR: The “God’s Gift Phone Center” in Fidjrossè, Cotonou, BL: The “Good God Barberings Saloon” (and phone box?!) in Lomé, Togo and finally, BR: A Ghanaian lorry passing through reminding us to “Give thanks to God”.
One thing I love about being here is that people are open to talking about God and about spiritual matters in general. In fact, most Beninese believe in a creator God of some kind, be it a Muslim one (Allah), a voodoo one (Mawu-Lissa) or the Jewish/Christian one (God!) So you can say you’re a Christian (or any other religion) without anyone looking at you like you have two heads or are some kind of freak. That’s nice and is sadly not always the case any more in the West. When I met the King of Allada a while back (see post here) he talked of a cohabitation pacifique between the religions of Benin and that is generally the case here. I was, however, quite surprised to find that God is even involved in the manufacture of petrol pumps these days:
Nice one! Let’s hope it’s unleaded, eh? Recently, someone has been sticking Bible verses to all the traffic light posts in town. (Interesting to read while you’re stopped there trying to ward off all those salesmen and beggars!!) Again, due to the tolerance between religions here, nobody has defaced of ripped any of them down. Maybe we could learn a lesson from the Beninese in this domain…
…because they now have the whole Bible in their own language for the first time ever. Remember this bloke I recently posted.
This is what the t-shirts looked like at the Dedication Ceremony of the Lokpa Bible, on 17th May 2008 in Gahounga, central Benin. The words are taken from Joshua 1:8, the whole of which says:
I couldn’t be there for the ceremony, but my colleague, Marianne, was there and took plenty of great photos and also this video of the ladies singing: Great music for the occasion, which is almost bound to be the case in this part of the world. Here are some more musical photos. TL: some traditional floor-standing drums, TR: a lady playing metal castanets, BL: a gourd shaker (with shells, buttons or beads on a net around the outside) and BR:the pressure drum – ubiquitous in northern Benin and Togo – (also known as the talking drum or armpit drum), which changes pitch as you squeeze it:
I got hold of a copy of the Lokpa Bible the other day and had a look through.
Nice! Want to see what it looks like inside. Here you go, have a butchers:
Thanks for reading!
…looks like this:
Not all of the city is this bad, but this particular section – next to marshland near Fidjrossè – is frequently bad at this time of the year. As you’ll realize from the video, I was on the back of a zemidjan when I filmed it, and I certainly got my feet wet! Ideally, either concrete barriers need building at either side of the road (where the marsh is) or even better, the whole section of the road needs raising by a couple of feet. Yours a tad drenched! R The other day, I caught a lift with this zem driver:
Interesting headgear, don’t you think? As it’s rainy season, the weather is a tad cooler than normal (down to the plummeting depths of 25 Celcius!) so he’s probably wearing this to keep his head warm (rather than a fashion statement!) Fashion really does not exist here in the same way as it does back home; you can wear almost any colour or style of clothing and nobody will comment on how ‘uncool’ or ‘too loud’ it is. This is particularly consoling for an individual such as myself, who tends to gravitate towards the lurid and psychedelic when it comes to shirts! That’s all for now… |
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