FTX-804 - African Instruments

FLUTES, HORNS & SINGING GOURDS

FLUTES, HORNS & SINGING GOURDS - A selection of outstanding recordings made by the late Dr.Hugh Tracey in the 50's & 60's feature 9 examples of flutes, pipes & pan-pipes and includes 5 pieces on various kinds of singing employing horns and gourds. Dr. Tracey has given information explaining each piece musically with details of the materials used in the making of the instruments

FLUTES

1. (CHOPI) MISHISHA - Duet by 2 girls with 3-hole Sigowilo ocarinas at Regulo Nyakutowo's village, Zavala district, Mozambique, 1955. TR-11 (B9). Ocarina tunes are usually accompanied by voiced notes. Chopi ocarinas are made from the fruit of the wild Mutamba tree (Kaffir Orange or Strychmos Spinosa) with three holes of different sizes - 0'49"

2. (TSWANA/ LETE). GODUMADUMA GWA MOSADI. 2.25 Reed-pipe tune played by Tswana Flute Dancers led by Modiseng, W.Transvaal, S.Afiica 1948 TR-117 (B1). There are 4 sets of single end-hlown pipes, 4 in each, ranging from 1, 120 to 93 vs. Each set covers a fifth only and is an octave lower than the one above - all notes bearing approximately the same relationship. Treble pipes are called Metenyane; alto Dinokwane; tenor Meporo e metelele. Intervals 259, 240, 209 cents. Total 708. These copper and iron pipes are stopped with wood. (In Bechuanaland the pipes are made of reed, Matlhaka) - 2'34"

3.(ZARAMO) CHANSI CHA NZIGE Pipe dance with a set of 13 Viyanzi pipes; 2 friction sticks and tin rattles by Zaramo boys led by Pembe Selemani, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 1950. TR-158 (B2). Each player has one pipe only except the treble who holds three loose pipes. The embouchure is cut at a double angle, the shorter side being pressed to the lower lip. The players stand in a circle, following each other, in the style of bell-ringers. Tuning: 584, 520, 440, 392, 336, 292 vs. giving a pentatonic scale. Total range is just over two octaves - 2'55"

4.(SENA/TONGA) AI-YE! NZARA YAKABORE (Ai-ye Famine has come) Ngororombe dance with 4 sets of end-blown pan-pipes, rattles and drums TR-85 (A5) by young Tonga men & girls from Mkota district, Rhodesia, 1958. The pan-pipe players both sang and blew their pipes alternately, each having a distinct part in the whole complex. For clarity this example omitted the usual drum accompaniment - 3'16"

5.(SOGA) BWOMERA ENVU (When your hair turns grey you are getting old) Flute tune with Ndere end-blown flute, 2 drums & hand-clapping by Mulobo Maswa & Soga men from Bugembe, Kamodi, Uganda 1952 TR-145(B2). The flute-player makes full use of the range of his instrument playing descending passages frequently - 1'32"

6. (GANDA) SEMATIMBA NE KIKWABANGA. Topical song with 3 Ndere end-blown, notched, open flutes, a cylindrical, pinned, footed drum and 3 laced conical drums by Abalere ba Kabaka, Buganda, Uganda 1950 TR-137(A2). The story is about a miser called Ssematimba who never slaughtered any of his goats for meat and was much ridiculed after his death - 2'38"

7. (NANDE) - Flute tune with Nyamulera 4-holed, end-blown, notched flute by Katsuba Mwongolo from Beni district, Kivu, Zaire 1952 TR-127(B1). Herdsman's tune from the eastern border of Zaire where the hills run alongside the great western rift opposite the Ruwenzori mountains. This herdsman plays all day to his cattle and his voiced notes can be heard forming a celeste with those of his flute - 1'29"

8. (NYAKYUSA) - Flute tune with Ilonge end-blown notched flute by Balekebosa Kayala at Kiwira Village, Tukuyu District, Tanzania 1950 TR-158(A1). A haunting melody improvised as he sits outside the hut of a dead friend. A woman is heard crying as in mourning. The open square-cut end to the bamboo pipe is partly closed by the tongue, the wind being expelled out of the side of the mouth across the edge of the bamboo. The tongue is used to give a vibrato effect but the purity is marred by the strong edge tone - 1'27"

9. (LUBA/SONGE) MISHIBA - Panpipe Ensemble with 2 weighted, closed hand-beaten goblet drums and a set of 6 panpipes by group of 6 Bena Budin men from Kasai, Zaire, 1957. TR-25(A1). The panpipes were of three pitches - treble, tenor and bass - the middle register having several players holding a raft of two to six pipes and the bass and treble having two each only - 2'42"

HORNS & SINGING GOURDS

10. (GITONGA) CUSTODO A MABILE - Makarito dance with 5 singing horns, a steel bass drum, 2 small drums and a small bell by Comacado des Amigos Timoses, Maxixe, S>Mozambique 1963 TR-196 (B5). The horn singers mouth the words of the highly repetitive music through the mouthpiece as they play, thus they are not too distinct - 2'46"

11. (NJANJA/CEWA) M'SODOMO - Muganda dance with 12 Malipenga singing horns, or kazoos by boys of Chief Mwasi's village, Kasungu, Central Malawi 1958 TR-95(A2). This has been a popular dance since about 1927. The dancers alternately sing openly and through their Lipenga horns - 2'48"

12. (YOGO) MAVUMBALA - Dance song (with 7 Mbala wooden horns, a Kekese basket rattle, Mbili metal wrist bell, 2 pod drums, 2 conical laced drums, 2 small slit drums and a double metal bell) by Mayogo men from Mayogo Mabozo, Paulis, Zaire 1952. TR-118(B5). The end-blown Mbala horns vary in length from 12" to 24"; the apertures at the large end from 2 1/22 to 3". The tuning: 382, 288, 268, 236, 192 vs. The players stand in a row outside the files of circling dancers. It is interesting to note that whilst the Yogo Mbira is pentatonic, these Yogo horns are tuned to a hexatonic scale - 3'16"

13. (NYORO/HAYA) NKETE - Victory song (with Makondere horns, a conical laced drum and a cylindrical footed, open, pegged drum) by Eliazale Kazinduki from Bukoba, Tanzania 1950. TR-143(A2). In the old days the Makondere horns were played after fighting when the men came back to report to their chief how they had fared in battle. They are made up of horn and calabash gourds bound together with skin (mostly cow's tail) to keep the joints tight. They are open at the small end where a finger hole makes two notes possible on each horn. The mouth-piece is a rectangular hole on the side near the small end. The horns are now played on the first day of the new moon and also upon important occasions at the Chief's Palace, such as on the occasion of the installation of a new Makama - 2'43"

14. (NYORO) RWAKANEMBE - Tune with Makondere gourd horns by the Ananyabyala Royal Band led by Bulasio Araya at Kilali, Hoima, Bunyoro, Uganda 1950 TR-133(A7). It is interesting to note how the other players join after the leader and treble horn players establish the basic rhythm at the beginning. The short repetitive motif on the treble horns, together with a ground melody on the bass horns, makes an effective composition - 1'20"

15. (RWANDA) KYARUTEMA - Tutsi dance song with 8 Makondere horns (composite) and drum by Twa musicians of Chief Bibiga at Shangugu, Rwanda 1952 TR-57(A5). Song for the Intore dancers and their Imihumilizo dance, the traditional Tutsi dance. The opening cadenza by the leading horn player well demonstrates the technique of Makondere horn playing - 3'03"

16. (SOGA) MULIMO OMUTANDA (The owner of the house) - Tune with Magwala horns, Kigoma, larhge conical laced drum and a small conical drum by Mulobo Maswa & Soga men at Bugembe, Kamodi county, Uganda 1952 TR-142(B8). The low bass notes at the start have an interesting rhythmic pattern. The other players fall naturally into place. The short repetitive melody on the bass horn, and the three notes on the treble horn, interlock in traditional fashion - 1'24"

17. (LUBA/BAKWANGA) CHOMBELA - Wedding Song with 3 Chipeni singing gourds, a basket rattle and handclapping by a group of 9 Bena Shimba women from Bakwanga, Eastern Kasai, Zairew 1957 TR-39(A8). The women hold the open gourds to their faces and lip the notes as if they were playing a trumpet, the resonance of the gourds responding to their vibrating lips - 3'00"

These recordings were made by Dr.Hugh Tracey in the early fifties for The International Library of African Music and are reproduced here with his permission and that of the Library. First published on Folktrax cassettes 1976.