Archive for the ‘Ethnomusicology’ CategoryFirst off, sorry for the lack of postings in the past few weeks; I’ve been in the UK and can never find much interesting to blog about there :-). Meanwhile, have a look at this amazing guy with his home made drums (including a bass drum with foot pedal) and harmonica. I saw him a few years ago half way between Cotonou and Djougou on the coach route north. To top it all, he’s also blind! What an increadible bloke! Anyone seen him lately?? This really is a testimony to African resourcefulness and ability to triumph even in adversity. This guy is incredible. Makes me think of the Staff Benda Bilili story (click here and here to find out more). Enjoy!
This is the question my friend Eric asked me to write 700 words about as a guest writer on his blog.
But rather than paste the whole article into my own blog, have a look at his instead! Cheers! I recently returned from Nigeria, where I taught a two-week course entitled ‘Music and the Arts’.
Many of you may be asking: “What do you do on a course like this? And what’s the point (apart from having fun)?” Well, although it was fun, it was also hard work and we covered an enormous amount of material. Here’s a brief summary of the topics we cover on a course like this: We also had a few visiting arty folk, including a an ethnic music group, a story-teller and a very talented ethno-dance group (oh, and Indian puppetry from my colleague…)
Finally, there was lots of singing, dancing and playing music, particularly during breaktimes, with a good range of different ethnic instruments:
Being an ethnomucologist/arts worker is a great job and loads of fun but also has a HUGE impact on entire communities in a way other forms of communication can not. Could YOU be an ethno-arts worker? Do you know anyone who might fit the bill? If so, get in touch! We’re running a similar (but more in-depth) course in the UK this summer. I’ll be teaching one some of it too! Have a look at the course info here: ETP Ethno-Arts Course 2011 Finally watch this video and be inspired: Thanks for reading! Doing a spot of recording on an Arts Course last summer.
One of the things we teach students on such courses is how to do decent field recordings of local music. This was me last September in Bamako, showing them in a practical way what to do. Interestingly, I was doing exactly the same thing today, but in Jos, Nigeria. More on that to follow… Here are the first ever copies of the entire Bible in the Dogon language (Toroso dialect) to arrive in Mali:
It was a privilege to see them and look through a copy (even though I only know about 5 words of Toroso). Here I am with a Dogon pastor, holding a freshly arrived Dogon Bible:
You may remember that I was up in Sangha recently for a workshop to compose new songs for the dedication, sheduled for early next year (read about the workshop here). I also did the same for the Moba language in Togo (blog post here). And while we’re on the subject, here’s a post about the Lokpa Bible dedication in Benin in 2008. Great stuff! Thanks for reading. And here’s a ‘sneak preview’ of a couple of pages for you:
Rob was in Dogon Country again recently, running a song-writing workshop. Following this research visit in 2010, I was back in the fascinating clifftop town of Sangha, many miles from home. Here’s what Sangha looks like: The four-day workshop brought together musicians from all over Dogon Country (cliff and plain-dwellers) to work together on new Bible-based songs. The first three were based on parables, the second three were specifically for the Dogon Bible Dedication, sheduled for 2012. Here are the Dogon Musicians rehearsing one of their songs (with great joy and energy!) On the last day, we found a secluded valley (between the rocks) and I recorded all the new songs, as well as a few older ones. It was great to see them use so many of their traditional instruments in the songs, some of which are still rarely used in church. Here they are: It is interesting to note that the square boina was introduced in the 1960s by missionaries because round-headed Dogon drums were still deemed ‘evil’. Somehow having four corners removed its ‘evilness’. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since then and the Dogon are happy to use a range of instruments to worship God. Have a listen to some of the new songs: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. A bi-product (and highlight) of the trip was also being able to interview and record an old Dogon man, who knew many traditional folk songs from years gone by. Here he is singing one of the songs for me – amazing musicality for an old bloke! Here are some short audio clips of some of the other songs: (i) A song in honour of his mother, saying how nice her breast milk tastes, (ii) A song saying “Whoever you are, you can do nothing in the face of death” and (iii) A song saying: “No Dogon woman is complete without her indigo cloth”. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. More photos of the trip on Facebook – click here. Day 1:
Finally on the road again by 3:10pm, made it to Mac’s Refuge in Sevaré before dark. Day 2
Day 3 Day 4
As night fell, I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve EVER seen, over the Niger river:
Day 5 Day 6
There you go! Many more photos on my Facebook album of the trip: here. And here’s what some of the Bozo folk songs sounded like: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. It’s seems ages ago, but in September last year (ie 2010), I ran an etthhnomusicology workshop in the remote mountain village of Cankuzo, Burundi.
I could tell you more about it, but instead here’s a link to a page which does just that: Rob’s Burundi Workshop article Also, as a picture paints 1,000 words, you can also see some photos of The Royal Drummers of Burundi I worked with here and other Burundi photos (including the workshop) here. Just thought I’d share that with you! Happy New Year! Earlier this year, composer, explorer and ethnomusicologist David Fanshawe died of a stroke, aged 68.
David Fanshawe was most well-known for his African Sanctus, which inspired me at a young age and – who knows – may even have been part of what led me to do what I do on this fascinating continent. The Sanctus is basically a mass for choir but with one key difference: authentic field recordings of African music (made in North and Eastern Africa by David himself) are played during the performance, combining with the sound of the choir with some fantastic results. Seriously uplifting stuff, although very eclectic indeed. You can see a YouTube video about the African Sanctus here and order a copy (inc. choral score) here. I’d love to conduct a choir in this one day, but it is quite a demanding work. His eccentric personality and sense of fun and adventure are surely factors which drove him to travel to such remote locations to make recordings (I can certainly identify with all of the above). As well as Africa, he also spent a significant amount of time in the Pacific, collecting a large number of recordings there as well. Read some good obituaries here and here and lots of tributes here. Goodbye David – we will miss your crazy ways and superb music.
My feet have scarcely touched the ground since May, so only now am I actually writing about GCoMM, which happened in July in Singapore…
GCoMM stands for ‘The Global Consultation on Music and Missions’, although many other art forms (dance, drama etc) are also covered. It is a great opportunity for folks like myself to gather together with like-minded individuals for meetings, worship sessions and general brainstorming. I also gave a paper based on my thesis discoveries. Still, enough from me; I could never describe the happenings of GCoMM in as much detail or flair as my old mate George Luke, who was there too. Here we are enjoying a coffee together at one of Singapore’s many shopping centres:
We also enjoyed a curry and some rather unusual icecream together, but I’ll let George (a jounalist and altogether nice bloke from London) tell you all about it. Have a look at the three reports below – well worth a read: George’s GCoMM article, Part I |
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