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Archive for the ‘Ethnomusicology’ Category
…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!
…but maybe not quite like this one:
This is Le Marché Dantɔkpa, which means beside the water … and it is! It can be a tad dangerous at Dantɔkpa (remember this post), so take as few valuables as possible and be aware of people around you. Even taking photos can be risky, and sometimes annoys folk. That said, I managed to sneak some with a small camera recently, so here are a few of them:
Oh, and the mystery meat I recently posted (here) was, in fact RAT! Yes, it’s quite a delicacy here, thought I’ve never tried it! So, that’s Dantɔkpa - not quite the same as a market back home, but nonetheless a very rich and vibrant place to visit. Now onto the world market thing…I was transcribing the words of a Fɔn song used in a local church the other day, and it began like this: Gleta we gbɛ fí nyi loooo Have a listen and follow along: fon-market-song-extract.mp3 Nice, eh? I love all her inflections and folky rubato. Here’s what it means: Life down here is like a field (looooo), the world is like a market which comes to life too. And so, we do not know at what moment the hour will chime. It’s basically a statement on human mortality and that, as life begins, so it ends and we must be ready for when we meet our maker. Rob has made it to Bamako, Mali, for the first time, but is gutted that Timbuktu is too for for a weekend visit! As I only arrived yesterday (Wednesday) I’ve not seen much of the place, but I like what I have seen. Above is the view of the Niger River, taken from where I’m staying. Here’s the same view during the day (surprisingly green for a semi-desert country in dry season):
I’m here teaching an ethnomusicology course to - somewhat bizarrely - a load of Cameroonians! There were a couple of Malians there too, mind. They’re altogether a great bunch of people - I think we’ll have lots of fun together as well as them learning stuff. Walking round the streets of Bamako, my first reactions are as follows: * Hardly anyone calls out to you or pesters you (much more frequent back home). In case you’re interested, here’s my appartment and bedroom here:
…and apart from that, this is about all I’ve seen of Bamako so far:
More news & photos soon, I hope! 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:
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!
Here’s what I discovered: 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.
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.
I hope not! But then, you can’t really say such a thing here in Benin, as voodoo is a national religion, with the same status as Christianity or Islam. It has, in fact, very little to do with sticking pins in dolls, but resembles African animistic religion in many ways, with a smattering of witchcraft thrown in too. I could post plenty of semi-disturbing pictures of sacrificial rituals with blood everywhere, but it might put you off your breakfast! In the photo below (taken before a ceremony started), the thing in the bottom left corner is the fetish and the cow to the right is enjoying the last moments of his life before….yes, you guessed it.
What do you think about voodoo? For the Brits reading this, there’s a programme on channel Four this Friday about Benin and Voodoo, which I’d encourage you to watch. Details here. (Video plus+: 918742) Much of the research I am currently carrying out in southern Benin is linked to music of voodoo origin and how this is being ‘reclaimed’ for church use. Is this a good thing? Is there such a thing as an ‘evil’ rhythm or is it all in the words? What about the risk of syncretism? Some churches are finding these genres a useful tool in evangelism and in the demystification of the whole voodoo thing. Others will not touch it with a barge pole. What do you think? There’s a PhD in there somewhere! …if you wanna be a Bible translator!
Yes, in case you didn’t realize, all those people were holding copies of the New Testament in Moba for the first time ever. They had just bought them after the Dedication Ceremony in Dapaong, Togo, last Saturday (15th March). It was a great day - the ceremony kicked off at 8:00am, with some fab music and dancing. Here’s a short extract of some traditional Moba dancing, which I think you’ll enjoy: As well as the music, there were a good number of speeches and then the New Testaments were given out to various folk. Also, the choir sung two of the songs composed with Rob at his workshop in January. Great to hear them again - and much improved too! Here’s the choir getting into the groove:
The two songs used were: (i) ‘Jaab’ based on 2 Timothy 3:16 and (ii) ‘Konbenn’ based on Romans 15:4. I made the 12 hour or so journey up to Dapaong - the northernmost town in Togo - for the occasion (on public transport/car sharing this time, to give the Land Rover a rest). A tiring trip, but worth every minute. Great to catch up with so many friends and colleagues too, but it was all over so quickly! Around 2000 people were at the ceremony and the weather was dry and slightly cloudy - so not too warm. It was a great occasion and LOTS of New Testaments were sold at the end.
This is the first time the Moba people have had the NT in their own language. Jan, Sylvia and the team have spent the last twelve years doing the translation, as well as many years preparation prior to that. Here’s what a section of a Moba NT looks like - see if you can spot Pentecost, Jesus, Galilee, Jerusalem and Mesopotamia. Oh, and Yendu means God, by the way.
There are also some pretty colour pictures in the Bibles, but I can’t show you everything in one post! Instead, here are some more pics from the dedication - TL: Praying over the New Testaments, TR: Jan and Sylvia (translators) giving a speech, BL: A griot singing and playing the traditional guitar and BR: A couple of traditional 3-holed flute players.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and Happy Easter!
You MUST watch this video - I’ll tell you about it afterwards… Recognize anyone? Did you laugh?!? Well, a local Christian musician, Mathieu Assogba, has been working with me a lot on my research here. So, when he came to filming his latest pop video he asked me to come along and play the cɛnkumɛn, a large gourd used in traditional music here. So, they sat me down in someone’s back yard, where there was a large blue sheet draped across a wall, and I played along to the CD. When I’d finished playing, he said “You speak a bit of Fɔn, can you mouth the words to it”, so, with difficulty I did! A couple of weeks later and this is the result. Incidentally, I also put him in touch with the white dancers too, who had a whale of a time learning the moves. Check what Lauren says about the experience here and here. Oh, and apparently it’s been on local TV already - scary! That almost qualifies me for Celebrity Big Brother!!! That’s all for now. Bon weekend! Week before last, Rob was on another workshop to Dapaong - the northern-most town in Togo, and only 20 miles from Burkina Faso… It was a very long journey, about 700 miles from Cotonou. This was all the more tiring as I’d only got back from England two days earlier. Still, a colleague called Lois (the one who - curiously - is also married to a Rob!!) needed to make a trip up north, so came along and shared the driving.
The weather was chilly for Africa and only about 10% humidity - quite different from southern Benin. Mid-morning felt like a British summer’s day, but then it got far to hot for that! So, as ever, we began with some teaching. This was a little different from other workshops, as the aim was not only to compose new songs, but also to encourage folk to use traditional Moba song genres in their churches - something which is not happening across the board. There are, however, loads of traditional song genres. Here are a few: Talkudg…………..Used for rejoicing and at funerals. Composing a new song Performing the song to the rest of the group Recording the new songs on the last day The percussion section This was also a special workshop because we composed songs for the dedication of the Moba New Testament, which takes place in March. Three groups wrote a song each and one of these will be chosen to be sung by a choir at the Dedication Ceremony - wow! Exciting stuff! In fact, have a listen yourselves and let me know which song you prefer. (NB This will in no way influence the judges’ final decision!!) Here’s a short extract of each song: Moba Dedication song based on Hebrews 4 verse 12: Moba Dedication song based on 2 Timothy 3 verses 16-17: Moba Dedication song based on Romans 15 verse 4: That’s all for now folks - leave us a comment!
A computer? An in-tray full of mail? A diary? A telephone? Various bits of paper, paperclips, pens etc?
A mixing desk, an MP3 recorder, a phantom power supply (small black box at back), a notebook with track titles, lengths and other important info about the recordings, batteries and headphones (although they’re on my head most of the time!) My desk can be anywhere in Togo or Benin, but most often it’s under some trees in a quiet location in a village far from anywhere! As there’s no electricity, I use rechargeable batteries most of the time. For my most recent recording in Bago, Togo, I used a step-up transformer connected to the car battery:
Here are a few more locations of my ‘work desk’ (NB the table varies according to location, but the equipment remains the same!)
There you go! Just thought you might be interested! Full report on the workshop soon… Other news… *Lois has recovered from a nasty bout of tonsillitis/laryngitis (not sure which!) and is fine now.
Last week, Rob did a song-writing workshop and recorded many songs of the Ditammari people of northern Benin/Togo and made some interesting cultural discoveries… First off, here are some musicians (and one intruder - can you spot him?!?) dressed in a traditional costume: a ‘hat’ with animal hair coming out of it (goat, monkey or horse, I’m told), sticks, beards and glasses(?!?) I’ve no idea why!
Day 1 Day 2
I get there in time and meet Norbert, my contact there. Some folk are still arriving on foot from a village about 15 miles away, so we don’t get started until around 11:00am, looking at song genres and composition techniques etc. I quickly realize that this workshop is going to be different from most others in the following ways: (i) over half of those attending were not Christians, even though it’s a Bible song-writing workshop. Instead they follow traditional or animistic religion and (ii) because they are almost all men, with only about 5 teenage girls attending and (iii) there are NO DRUMS!!! Hang on, this is Africa - where are the drums?!? Here are some of the folks reading one of the scripture verses in the local language. The Ditammari are fortunate, as they already have the whole Bible in their language, whereas the majority of Benin’s 52 languages only have some Bible or none at all.
There’s no mobile phone signal in Boukoumbé, but I find a cabine téléphonique and call the garage in Natti - to my amazement, the Land Rover is mended!! He found the bearings in the town and it’s all done! So, I decide to catch another motorbike back, stay in Natti, then drive back the next morning - that way I can have my microphone stands at hand. Unfortunately, there’s a HUGE thunder storm on the way back and I get completely drenched. In the end, the driver stops for shelter and I wring out my shirt. Click here to see the video of the storm. I get to the garage, but by then it’s closed, so I find a hotel …and crash. Day 3 Day 4 Breakfast at a local joint with a colleague. No coffee or bread, but instead this:
Mmmm! Very nutritious, and all for 30p!! Back to the meeting place and folks are practising their songs. Today, we begin recording and the local school seems the best location as it’s still school holidays and the site is far from the road and has plenty of open spaces and trees for shade. It takes a while to get and extension cable and the key to a classroom. We also go on a wild goose chase for drums and find one small drum, which some local nuns lend us! Recording starts by midday and all nine new songs are in the can by 5:30pm. Although there’s not much drumming, there is other percussion, including these plaited palm leaves which act as shakers round the legs (a bit like Morris Dancers’ bells!)
Day 5
I’m all packed up and off by 1:15pm and manage to get over half the way home before dark. Phew! Videos of the trip: Traditional Dance (men) Audio files for you to listen to: song-based-on-1-john-1v8-10.mp3 |
