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: 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. Moba Dedication song based on 2 Timothy 3 verses 16-17: 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. Moba Dedication song based on Romans 15 verse 4: 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. That’s all for now folks – leave us a comment!
Comments:
2 Comments posted on "Dapaong – an hour’s drive from…nowhere!"
Claudia on February 20th, 2008 at 5:48 pm #
A long way to go for the worskhop but sounds like it was well worth it.
Wycliffe UK blog » Blog Archive » Ethnomusicology with the Bago of Togo on April 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pm #
[…] own language, and in their own music style. To find out more about how this is done, have a look at Rob’s workshop with the Moba people earlier this […] |