MALAYSIA – NEW GUINEA – INDONESIA – AUSTRALIA – JAPAN – COLOMBIA – BRAZIL – GUYANA – VENEZUELA – PERU – CANADA – BOTSWANA – NAMIBIA – CONGO – TONGA – FIJI – FINLAND
The Music of Primitive Man – Horizon – P 11857, released 1973 (LP)
The Music of Primitive Man LP published in 1973 presents a well-curated selection of 50 field recordings made in time-honored traditional primal cultures in the Americas (Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru), Asia (Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia), Oceania (New Guinea, Australia, Tonga, Fiji), Africa (Botswana, Namibia, Congo), and Europe (Finland).
This global panorama offers a fascinating immersion into bygone worlds filled with a strong collective identity, sense of purpose, creativity, and a deep connection with nature and the supernatural. The delicate, otherworldly, and abstract sonorities here include singing, imitations of animal sounds, xylophones, a likembe, gongs, flutes, panpipes, whistles, musical bows, lyres, drums, clapping, a didjeridoo, a Jew's-harp, and a bullroarer.
Le disque The Music of Primitive Man publié en 1973 présente une pertinente sélection de 50 enregistrements réalisés dans des cultures primordiales traditionnelles aux Amériques (Canada, Colombie, Brésil, Guyane, Venezuela, Pérou), en Asie (Japon, Malaisie, Indonésie), en Océanie (Nouvelle-Guinée, Australie, Tonga, Fidji), en Afrique (Botswana, Namibie, Congo) et en Europe (Finlande).
Ce panorama global propose une immersion fascinante dans des mondes disparus empreints d'un fort sentiment d’identité collective, de raison d’être, de créativité, ainsi qu’un lien profond avec la nature et le surnaturel. Ces sonorités délicates, abstraites, et éthérées incluent des chants, des imitations de sons d'animaux, des xylophones, un likembe, des gongs, diverses flûtes, des sifflets, des instruments à archet, des lyres, des tambours, un didjeridoo, une guimbarde et un rhombe.
SIDE A
A1 – “Singing Birds” Folk Song – Ainu people, Japan.
A2 – Voice and Likembe – Pygmy Bambuti people, Ituri forest, Congo (Kinshasa).
A3 – Chant with Clapstick and Didjeridoo – Guanavidi people, Northern Territory, Australia.
A4 – Xylophone Duet – Dusun people, Tumbunan, Malaysia.
A5 – Nose Flute Trio – Tonga people, Tonga.
A6 – Chief's Song – Guaharibo people, along the Orinoco River, Venezuela or Brazil.
A7 – Dance with Bamboo Stampers – Island of Vanua Mbalavu, Fiji.
A8 – Jew's-harp Solo – New Guinea.
A9 – Lapland Joik Singing – Finland.
A10 – Bamboo Flutes – New Guinea.
A11 – Eskimo Traveling Song – Northwest Territories, Canada.
A12 – Eskimo Dance – Cape Dorset, Northwest Territories, Canada.
A13a – Bamboo panpipes – Puinave people, Colombia.
A13b – War Song – Cayapo people, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
A13c – New Year’s Celebration with Bark Trumpets and Flutes – Piaroa people, Upper Orinoco, Venezuela.
A14a – Musical Bow Solo – Motilon people, Colombia
A14b – Women’s Chicha Song – Motilon people, Colombia
A14c – Lullaby – Motilon people, Colombia
A15 – Split-reed whistles to Warn villagers that a Secret Ceremony is About to Begin – Abelam people, Sepik River, New Guinea.
A16 – Yam Display Song – Abelam people, Sepik River, New Guinea.
A17 – Cassava Grating Song – Akawai people, near the Mazaruni River, Guyana.
A18a – Melody on a Kaikara transverse flute – Akawai people, near the Mazaruni River, Guyana.
A18b – Sung version of the above melody – Akawai people, near the Mazaruni River, Guyana.
A19 – Shaman's Chant – Cuna people, Colombia.
A20 – Puberty Fiesta, the men of the tribe dance to the accompaniment of a long kili cane panpipe – Cuna people, Colombia.
A21 – Worksong With Singing and Whistling – Motilon people, Colombia.
A22 – Gongs – Dusun people, Tumbunan, Malaysia
A23 – Kalahari Love Song With a Vibran four-string Lyre – San people, Kalahari, Bostwana or Namibia.
SIDE B
B1 – Bajau Laut Trance Dance With Voices and Gongs – Bajau people, North Borneo, Indonesia or Malaysia.
B2 – Female Singer and 17-key Gambang Xylophone – Bajau people, North Borneo, Indonesia or Malaysia.
B3 – Elders’ voices with panpipe and drum accompaniment – Makuna people, Colombia.
B4 – Male Voices with Guitar and Split-reed whistle – Tonga.
B5 – Three-string Gambus Duet – Dayak people, Indonesia.
B6 – Men's Dance With Gongs and Drums – Dayak people, Indonesia.
B7 – Prayer Song – Ainu people, Japan.
B8 – War Dance accompanied by cane panpipes and hand clapping – Tatuya people, Colombia.
B9 – Blooding Ceremony – Chanting accompanied by a bull-roarer – Walbiri people, Northern Territory, Australia.
B10 – Musical Bow Solo – San people, Khalahari, Bostwana or Namibia.
B11 – Puberty Celebration with male chant accompanied by two flutes and maracas – Cuna people, Colombia.
B12 – Dance Performed by Men and Women With bamboo clapsticks, stamping, and male chanting – Island of Vanua Mbalavu, Fiji.
B13 – Bamboo Xylophones Orchestra – Dusun people, Tumbunan, Malaysia.
B14 – Panpipes and Drums – Jebero people, between the Maranon and Huallaga rivers, Peru.
B15 – Flutes and Maracas – Kogi people, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, Colombia.
B16 – Singing accompanied by drums and a split-reed whistle – Noanama people, Lower San Juan River, Colombia.
B17a – Tune for a pipe and a three-stringed bamboo kerantin – Semelai people, Malaysia.
B17b – Women produce rhythmic patterns by splashing their hands on top of the water. – Semelai people, Malaysia.
B18 – Nose Flute Solo – Dusun people, Tumbunan, Malaysia
B19 – Stringed Dusun Sundatang Solo – Dusun people, Tumbunan, Malaysia
B20 – Magic Ceremony with tribal holy man accompanied by brass-bowl percussion, a stringed instrument and drum – Manteri people, southwest coast of the Malay Peninsula, Malaysia.
B21 – Dancing and Chanting performed for chiefs – Lau Islands, Fiji.
Download:
Photographs below are from Vanished Civilizations: Forgotten People of the Ancient World by Henri Lhote, Thames and Hudson, 1967; Saudades do Brasil: A Photographic Memory by Claude Lévi-Strauss, University of Washington Press, 1995; a vintage postcard; and Masques Eskimo d'Alaska by Jean-Loup Rousselot, Bernard Abel, José Pierre, and Catherine Bihl, Danièle Amez, 1991:
Half-man, half-fox Eskimo Ichzit mask, Nunivak Island, Alaska, United-States:
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