Polyphonic music from Central Africa

By Jean-Marie Juvin

Le Toboggan in Décines, a venue that programs a highly eclectic range of performers, is hosting two groups that represent the polyphonic forms of music of Central Africa.

The Aka are one of the three pygmy groups to be found in Central Africa today. Until recently, they were entirely nomadic, living in the great equatorial forest and leaving it only episodically, to barter with Africans in the surrounding villages: trading game for salt – an extremely precious commodity – and metal in the form of assegais, knives and blades. Today, they can be found in their traditional habitat only during the rainy season, which lasts half the year. During this season, several settlements team up to organise large hunts. Among the Pygmies (as in all other African societies), music is closely linked to the group's social and religious life. It performs a central role in all events; not a day goes by without music. Despite a number of points in common with other traditional kinds of music in the region, the Pygmies stand out radically through their highly developed vocal polyphony. When one hears the members of a settlement sing together, one has the impression of an extraordinary interlacing of voices, and of vocal timbres, where the method of (Tyrolean) yodelling — alternating chest and head voices— is predominant. This artistic form, which derives from oral tradition, comes across as a cyclical music, based on the repetition of constant periods — metric, rhythmic and melodic — enriched with sung variations. This technique is the fruit of a long learning process which the children begin as soon as they can walk, or as soon as they start to take part in the life of the community.

Little wonder, then, that the improvisations done during polyphonic singing are so various. Only two instruments have this exclusive status: one shaped like a rattle, typical of this settlement; the other a set of cowbells that is fixed to the ankles. The Pygmies also use short-lived instruments picked up on their nomadic travels, and abandoned just as quickly. This music, a tremendous lacework of voices, responds to the echoes of a deep forest. Some 400,000 in number, the Banda are the largest ethnic group in Central Africa, divided into 50 subgroups with their own customs, dialects and musics. The Linda are one of these ramifications. "Ongo" means breath, and is also the term for a polyphonic ensemble of horns carved from wood. These are played to worship the ancestors, as a rite of passage for young boys. The size of these instruments varies: from 20 centimetres, for those made from antelope horns, to two metres for those carved from the roots of kapok trees and papaya trees (already burrowed into by termites). The company from the village of Tragode has its roots in Ouaka, a region of bushy savannah. It is made up of farmers directed by Wapounaba Ferdinand, a 60-year-old veteran, and of "blowers" from the new generation. The traditional form has be reworked by Barthélémy Etoumba, who has provided a singular choreography, as well as interludes featuring slot drums, five-bar xylophone, sitars, gombi... to give this ritual an expression of the way it is evolving.
A winter's evening not to be missed: in a warmed-up auditorium, savour the strength of Africa's living traditions.

Polyphonic music from Central Africa.
Le Toboggan. 14, avenue Jean Macé. 69 Décines
Info: 04 72 93 30 00. Thursday 16th December, 8.30pm.

Translated by Paul Jones