CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Centre-Afrique – Danses de la Forêt – Harmonia Mundi – HM 733

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – REPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE
Centre-Afrique – Danses de la Forêt – Harmonia Mundi – HM 733, recorded by Simha Arom, 1967 (LP)

This thrilling anthology of traditional music from the Central African Republic of a bygone era, includes vocal and flute polyphony of the Ba-Benzele Pygmies (A3, A12, A8), Dakpa horn music (A6, A8, A10), and music from the Ngkaba (A1, B2, B11) Lito (B4, B5, B7) Langba (A5, A11, B6), Sabanga (A2, A13, B3), Mandjia (B1,B9), Dendi (A4) and Rounga (B10) people.

Cette anthologie palpitante de musiques traditionnelles centrafricaines d’antan présente la polyphonie vocale des pygmées Ba-Benzélé (A3, A12, A8), la musique de trompes Dakpa (A6, A8, A10), ainsi que les musiques Ngkaba (A1, B2, B11), Lito (B4, B5, B7), Langba (A5, A11, B6), Sabanga (A2, A13, B3), Mandjia (B1, B9), Dendi (A4) et Rounga (B10).

A1 Ngkaba Lament - Siti Oh (South-West)

A2 Sabanga Men's Dance – Angwora (Centre)

A3 Music Of Rejoicing of the Ba-Benzele (South-West)

A4 Dendi Lament (South)

A5 Langba Lullaby - Di Koukou Sya Liya (South)

A6 Dakpa Horn Music (Centre)

A7 Gbannou Initiation Song - Yakoyo (South-West)

A8 Dakpa Horn Music 2 (Centre)

A9 Ngkaba Satirical Song - Kouda-e (South-West)

A10 Dakpa Horn Music 3 (Centre)

A11 Langba Song Of Fear - Ya, Ya, Timiki (South)

A12 Ba-Benzele Pygmy Hunting Song - Hindewhou Whistle (South-West)

A13 Sabanga Mourning Song - Nawe (Centre)

B1 Mandjia Lullaby - Yokolo Be (West)

B2 Ngbaka Sanza Solo (South-West)

B3 Sabanga Lullaby - Egbole Ne Ma (Centre)

B4 Lito Children's Games - Malanga Ti Yourou (Centre)

B5 Lito Song Of Initiation - E Malangao (Centre)

B6 Langba Song of Rejoicing - Amokondzi Nzapa La Pa (South)

B7 Patri Burial Song - Mi Yola Mona Ndeyo (South)

B8 Ba-Benzele Pygmies' Lament - Yimbo (South-West)

B9 Mandja Fetishistic Song - Seto (West)

B10 Rounga Funeral Song - Ya Yao (North)

B11 Ngkaba Musical-Bow Solo (South-West)

For half a century the eminent Franco-Israeli ethnomusicologist Simha Arom (b. 1930) explored and recorded the music of many Central African peoples, notably the fascinating Pygmy polyphony, as well as music from Benin, Ethiopia, Greece and Georgia.

"I believe that the heart of the work in the strange field called ethnomusicology consists of collecting different types of orally-transmitted musics before they disappear and decipher them like a linguist would with a newly discovered language," said Arom.

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Our other Central African music share:

Musique Centrafricaine - Ocora 43, 1962 here

Our many thanks to Nuno for always making the visuals look fabulous!

Photograph below is from Le Corps Africain by Alain-Michel Boyer, Hazan, 2007:

Ganza ceremony with Banda boys, covered in white and holding symbolic whips, 
dancing to the sound of a wooden-horn orchestra, Bambari, 1925:

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