CONGO – UGANDA – MOZAMBIQUE – SOUTH AFRICA – TANZANIA – MALAWI – ZIMBABWE – RWANDA – Flutes & Horns – Kaleidophone KMA 4

CONGO – UGANDA – MOZAMBIQUE – SOUTH AFRICA – TANZANIA – MALAWI – ZIMBABWE – RWANDA
Music of Africa Series – Musical Instruments 4 – Flutes & Horns – Kaleidophone KMA 4, 1972 reissue of a 1965 Gallotone release, recorded by Hugh Tracey (LP)

I’m delighted to present this fascinating compilation featuring flutes and horns of old recorded by Hugh Tracey in eight southern and central African countries.

 

This gorgeous musical selection is presented in sections, showcasing flutes (A1-A8), panpipes (A9), singing horns (B1-B2), horn ensembles (B3), Makondere horns (B4-B7) and singing gourds (B8) in a variety of formats, with singers, various rattles, drums and percussion to accompany dances, weddings, rituals and ceremonies.

 

These enthralling collective performances exemplify that distinctive fluid and sensuous African polyrhythmic touch and stunning novel sounds, running the gamut from the whimsical to the haunting.

 

Je suis ravi de vous présenter cette fascinante compilation de musiques d'antan comprenant des flûtes et des trompes enregistrée par Hugh Tracey dans huit pays d'Afrique australe et centrale.

 

Cette magnifique sélection musicale présente successivement des flûtes (A1-A8), des flûtes de pan (A9), des trompes chantantes (B1-B2), des ensembles de trompes (B3), des trompes Makondere (B4-B7) ainsi que des calebasses chantantes (B8), accompagnés notamment de chanteurs, divers hochets, tambours et percussions lors de danses, d’un mariage, de cérémonies, etc.

 

Ces formidables performances collectives illustrent bien cette touche polyrythmique fluide et sensuelle toute Africaine et proposent des sons inédits, allant du fantasque au lancinant.

FLUTES

A1 – CHOPI people – Sigowilo duet

Two girls three-hole Sigiwilo ocarina duet, Regulo Nyakutowo’s village, Zavala dictrict,

MOZAMBIQUE

 

A2 – TSWANA/LETE people – Godumaduma Gwa Mosadi

Flute tune by Tswana flute dancers led by Modiseng, Western Transvaal,

SOUTH AFRICA

 

A3 – ZARAMO people – Chansi cha Nzige

Pipe dance with set of 13 Viyanzi vertical flutes, two friction sticks and tin rattles by the Zaramo Boys led by Pembe Selemani, Dar es Salaam,

TANZANIA

 

A4 – SENA/TONGA people – Ai-ye! Nzara Yakabora ("Ai-ye! Famine Has Come")

Gororombe dance with four end-blown pipes, rattles and drums by young Tonga men and women, Mkota district, Mtoko,

ZIMBABWE

 

A5 – SOGA people – Bwomera Envu (When Your Hair Turns Grey, You’re Getting Old)

Ndere flute, two drums and handclapping by a group led by Mulobu Maswa, Bugembe, Kamodi County,

UGANDA

 

A6 – GANDA people – Kikwabanga

Three Ndere end-blown, notched, open flutes, one cylindrical, pinned, footed drum and three laced conical drums by Abalere Ba Kabaka, Buganda province, 

UGANDA

 

A7 – NANDE people – Herdsman's Tune

Nyamulera four-holed, notched flute by Katsuba Mwongolo, Beni District, Kivu,

CONGO

 

A8 – NYAKYUSA people – Flute Tune

Ilonge notched, end-blown flute by Balekbosa Kayala, Kiwira Village, Tukuyu District,

TANZANIA

 

PANPIPES

A9 – LUBA/SONGYE people – Mishiba

Pipe ensemble with two weighted, closed, hand-beaten goblet drums and six sets of panpipes played by six Bena Budia men, Kasaï Province,

CONGO

 

SINGING HORNS

B1 – GITONGA people – Custodo A Mabile

Makarito dance with five singing horns, a bass steel drum, two small drums and a small bell by Comacado Des Amigos Timoses, Maxixe, Sul do Save Province, 

MOZAMBIQUE

 

B2 – NYANJA/CHEWA people – M'Sodomo

Maganda dance with 12 Malipenga singing horns by Boys of Chief Mwasi's Village, Kasungu,

MALAWI

 

HORN ENSEMBLES

B3 – YOGO (or MAYOGO) people – Mavumbala

Dance song with seven Mbala wooden horns, a Kekese basket rattle, an Mbilli metal wrist bell, two pod drums, two conical laced drum, two small slit drums and double metal bell, Mayogo Mabozo, Paulis,
CONGO

 

MAKONDERE HORNS

B4 – NYORO/HAYA people – Nkete

Victory song with Makondere horns, a conical laced drum and a cylindrical footed, open pegged drum by Eliazale Kazinduke, Bukoba District,

TANZANIA

 

B5 – NYORO people – Rwakanembe

Makondere gourd horns by the Abanyabyala Royal Band led by Bulasio Ataya, Kitali. Honia, Bunyaro District, 
UGANDA

 

B6 – TUTSI people – Kyarutema

Tutsi dance song with eight Makondere horns and drums by Chief Biniga’s musicians, Shangugu, Rusizi District, Western Province,
RWANDA

 

B7 – SOGA people – Mulimo Omutanda (The Owner of the House)

Magwala horns, large Kigoma conical, laced drum and a small conical drum by Mulobo Maswa's ensemble, Bugembe, Kamodi County,

UGANDA

SINGING GOURDS

B8 – LUBA/BAKWANGA people – Chombela

Wedding song with three hipeni singing gourds, a basket rattle and handclapping by nine Bena Shimba women, Mbujimayi, Eastern Kasaï, 

CONGO

 

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Hugh Tracey (1903-1977) was a major British-born ethnomusicologist who made many thousands of seminal field recordings in Southern, Eastern and Central Africa from the 1920s to the 1970s. In 1921 he traveled to Zimbabwe (then British-ruled Rhodesia) to run a tobacco farm and immediately became fascinated by the Karanga dialect and culture of his Shona workers, particularly their folksongs. “He had a vision,” said his son Andrew Tracey, “and that was to preserve this music for future generations.”*

Hugh Tracey was to become the most important field recorder of African music of the 20th century.

*Read a profile of Hugh Tracey by his son Andrew here

Post with more Hugh Tracey recordings:

British East Africa – Columbia Masterworks Volume X here

 

A great ressource:

Ilam (International Library of African Music) founded by Tracey in 1954 hosted on the Smithsonian/Folkways site to explore some of his many recordings here

 

 

Photographs below are from Art Bakongo – Les Centres de Style by Raoul Lehuard, Arts d'Afrique Noire, 1989, and The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul by Jill Purse, Thames & Hudson, 1980:

 

The Bwende (or Babwende) people craft colossal Niombo fabric reliquary mannequins – hosting the body and relics of the deceased – in the context of the Niombo funeral ancestor cult for chiefs. In this photo, the towering, symbolically shackled Niombo – with his left arm pointing down to earthly life and his right arm pointing up to the heavens – will be carried to the chief’s tomb to accompany him into the realm of the ancestors to the music of a horn and drum ensemble. 

Bwende people, Congo-Kinshasa, early 20th century:

“Fertility, through cosmic harmony, is achieved by the dance in which the young virgins of the Venda people identify with the serpent force. After the rains, during these ceremonial days, elderly women initiate the virgins, conduct the ceremony, and act as the pivot around which the dancers spiral in the rhythmic movements and sinuous coils of the python. Collapsing and reviving, they rest like the forces of nature in the seasonal round of death and rebirth.” 

Deumba python dance, Venda (or Bavenda) people, northeastern South Africa:

 

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