"Polyphonies, polyfolies": traditional Central African music is heard
Audio 01:26
“Polyphonies, polyfolies”: a meeting between traditional Pygmy songs and Bambari's horns, orchestrated by the guitar of musicologist Camel Zerki (c.), Here at the Alliance française in Bangui, June 10, 2021. © Carol Valad / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
“Polyphonies, polyfolies” is the name of this musical show presented at the Alliance française in Bangui, the fruit of the meeting between polyphonic pygmy songs and the legendary Bambari horns.
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With our correspondent in Bangui,
Carol Valade
It is a meeting guided by the guitar of Camel Zekri, Franco-Algerian musicologist and composer, who has spent his life traveling Africa in search of the most original music.
And the result is spellbinding.
"
I suggest we are going to start a song!"
"In Bangui, Camel Zekri is nicknamed"
the great pygmy
"because of his size, which contrasts with that of its musicians.
Central African music has fascinated him for twenty years, but it is the first time that he has brought together the legendary Bambari tubes - huge roots hollowed out by the action of termites, which require a lot of patience and long walks in the bush to find them - with the Pygmy polyphonies of Lobaye, listed as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
.
To the rhythm of long walks in the forest
“
We got to know artists from the savannah, it's a great experience,
” says one of the Pygmy artists. A slight movement of the pendulum for some, the rhythm of long walks in forests for others, and in the center, Camel Zekri: “
So I have a European instrument, a guitar. I use it as a link between these two polyphonies, instrumental and vocal, which each have their own rules.
A balance that is sometimes difficult to find. “
There are cycles that are a little different, you have to stay the course because otherwise, I go on one side, I go on the other. I'm trying to find what will hold the whole thing together.
"
A way of "de-museifying" traditional music, and of proving that beyond folklore, it is constantly evolving.
"
Polyphonies, polyfolies
", which gave its first concert in Bangui this Saturday, June 12, will leave for France for the festival tour this summer.
► To listen again: Report Africa: a musicologist at the bedside of polyphonies in the Central African Republic
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