Music of the Ba-Benzélé-Pygmies

UNESCO COLLECTION
An Anthology of African Music (3)
Bärenreiter-Musicaphon BM 30 L 2303

Recordings, commentary and photographs by Simkha Arom in collaboration with Geneviève Taurelle
Recorded in 1965
 
The record starts with a solo performed by a young woman, playing on the one-pitched hindewhu whistle while simultaneously singing in a counterpoint of falling sixths, fifths and fourths. I wonder if Herbie Hancock got the inspiration for the intro of his fusion version of "Watermelon Man"(on the "Headhunters" album) from this recording. In fact, a whole bunch of70s minimalists could have derived their basic concepts from this record.
 This is one of my favourite records with music from Africa. The music of the Ba-Benzélé Pygmies, who live primarily the vast belt of equatorial forest in the Southwest of the Central African Republic, presents textures of sound in an astonishing variety, from the yodeling of the lullaby, the strange sonority of the hindewhu, and the vividness of the mimed stories, to polyphonic singing, which can sometimes be very complex. This polyphony gives to certain pieces an astonishing fullness of sound and an impression of perpetual development which ceases only with the coda section. An astonishing and highly entertaining recording.
 
01 Hindewhu solo
02 Song of rejoicing after returning from a hunt
03 Nbu, lament
04 Kongo asseka, music for dancing at a wake
05 Song of rejoicing after returning from a hunt
06 Lullaby
07 Lullaby
08 Ngoma, invocatory song before a hunt
09 e Yimba e, song preceding the departure of the hunters
10 Music for entertainment
11 First story: Mbombokwe, the woodpecker
12 Second story: The wondo player
13 Third story: The fruit eater
14 Fourth story: Sokopina (the tree with red fruit)
15 Fifth story: Lenkokodi
  
Highly recommended: (1)