CHAD – TCHAD Anthologie de la Musique du Tchad – Le Mayo-Kebbi Occidental – Ocora OCR 37

CHAD – TCHAD
Anthologie de la Musique du Tchad – Le Mayo-Kebbi Occidental – Ocora OCR 37 – recorded by Charles Duvelle & Michel Vuylsteke,  photographs by Charles Duvelle, 1966 (from 3 LP Box Set)

                Best wishes for 2023! 

                                                    Meilleurs Vœux pour 2023 !

We kick off 2023 with a first record from the gorgeous three-LP anthology of Chadian traditional music released on the legendary first Ocora series. Here we showcase the music of the Massa, Moundang and Toupouri people from the Western Mayo-Kebbi region near the Northern Cameroonian border. We will post the two other LPs shortly. 

 

Nous commençons la nouvelle année avec ce premier disque tiré de la magnifique anthologie de trois disques sur la musique traditionnelle du Tchad. Ce disque sur la légendaire première série Ocora présente la musique des Massa, des Moundang et des Toupouri du Mayo-Kebbi Occidental près de la frontière du nord Cameroun. Nous posterons également les deux autres 33 tours du coffret d’ici peu.

Massa people

A1 – Bringing back their herd to the village;

Two shepherds each sing and blow a one-holed whistle;
Recorded near Bongor, April 1966.

 

A2 – Millet milling song;

Female voices and millet grinding rhythm (see photograph scan 8);

Recorded near Bongor, April 1966.

 

A3 – Narration of a journey; 

Sung by Moudaksou and accompanied by three dilla four-stringed harps (see photograph scan 10)

Recorded in Koumi, April 1966.

 

Moundang people

A4 – Youngou is played and danced by a group of costumed men;

Singer and chorus, cylindrical drum, horn whistle, metal rattles worn by the dancers (see photograph scan 11);

Recorded in Léré, April 1966.

 

A5 – Funeral of a female Moundang healer;

Hou-hou calabash horn/megaphone and a bilim cylindrical drum, while venerable women from the healing secret society execute slow dance movements (see photographs scans 12 & 13)

Recorded in Léré, April 1966.

 

Toupouri people

B1 – Daï Djakman Faré is performed before the harvest;

The orchestra includes four four-holed manday flutes, godjé metallic ankle rattles; two oumkara and one matigéon straight calabash horns; two long tubular calabash megaphones; and five koutchatchin calabash rattles (see photographs scans 14 & 15);

Recorded in Daoua, Fianga region, April 1966.

 

B2 – Sirléh performed during the harvest;
Ensemble with ten horns and calabash bells (see photographs scans 16 & 17);

Recorded in Forkoumaye, Fianga region, April 1966.

 

B3– Harvest celebration

Singer and wind instrument ensemble with three mandan and two parouai flutes, a transverse horn-megaphone, and calabash bells (see photographs scans 18 & 19);

Recorded in Tikem, Fianga region, April 1966.

 

B4 – Gourouna milk drinkers’ secret society music and dance;

Gourouna choir, three large tourabal cylindrical drums and two difna horn whistles (see photograph scan 21); 

Recorded in Fianga, April 1966.

 

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Ethnomusicologist Charles Duvelle (1937-2017) was a formidable champion of traditional music who greatly contributed to the preservation of a disappearing world in our age of globalization, when the rich diversity of our past is quickly being erased and forgotten.

 

Raised in Indochina, Duvelle was an accomplished classical pianist with a great ear who reveled in new forms of music, like Jazz. He made his indelible mark as general editor of the French label Ocora, whose many remarkable recordings had a qualitative impact that’s impossible to overstate. Showcasing the complexity, diversity, and sometimes high level of abstraction of traditional music, such luminaries as David Byrne, Brian Eno and countless Jazz musicians have readily acknowledged the influence of these seminal LPs on their music and for opening new musical vistas.

 

Our other Chadian music post:
Chad (Kanem) – Unesco Collection – BM 30 L 2309 here

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