Last night’s veillée continued until the early hours. The ‘service’ part ended around 11:00pm, then some folk left and others sat around in small groups up and down the road, chatting. The live band stopped at this point, and was replaced by canned music – Catholic chant sort of stuff, of a vaguely Taizé-esque nature. This music continued until about 4:00am. Then, at 6:00am, we woke with a start as a brass band was playing outside our door!!! The herse was here and the band was heralding its arrival (couldn’t it have arrived late like many things here do?!?) Interesting music, though, of Cuban influence, I’m told (a throw back to Benin’s communist days). There were renditions of ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’, ‘Nearer my God to thee’ and other similar tunes. (NB I was hoping to add YouTube video of this, but dial-up internet too slow at the moment!) Music of various kinds continued all day, and the brass band returned early evening. Here’s what they sounded like:

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Whilst I realize it is a privilege to be so closely associated with the riches of African culture, I’d feel better with a few more hours undisturbed kip! Not to worry – after all T.I.A.