Echoes Of The Forest: Music Of The Central African Pygmies

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 30, 1995)
• Original Release Date: May 26, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ellipsis Arts
• ASIN: B0000059TV
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #274,769 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #39 in Music > World Music > Africa > Morocco

Track Listings

1. Men's Elephant-Hunting Song

2. Girl's Echo Song

3. Peipa [Girl's Initation]

4. Honey-Gathering Song

5. Women's Wedding Song

6. Net-Hunting Song

7. Méle-É

8. Bow-Harp and Vocal

9. Ikobi [Gathering Song-Version 1]

10. Ikobi [Version 2]

11. One-String Violin

12. Lote [Notched Flute]

13. Sanza [Plucked Idiophone or Thumb Piano]

14. Birth Celebration

15. Geedal

16. Mangissa

17. Ejengi Ceremony

18. Makusé [Music to Bring Luck to a Hunting Camp]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intimate and fascinating Sounds, April 30, 2000

By 

Jason P. Gubbels - See all my reviews

This review is from: Echoes Of The Forest: Music Of The Central African Pygmies (Audio CD)

While this cd may only appeal to anthropologists, there are numerous pleasures to be found. Blessed with a helpful booklet crammed with photos and informative essays, the packaging manages to make a foreign and unfamiliar sound accessible to anyone with an open mind.

Comprised of eighteen seperate tracks recorded by three different anthropologists over the span of forty years, the cd offers a wide variety of traditional music from the Pygmies of the Ituri rainforest in Central Africa. The opening track is truly wonderful - seven minutes of a large group of men singing a song in preparation of an elephant hunt, with a storm brewing in the background. It's impossible not to thrill to the majesty of this music, and when a huge crack of thunder shatters the mood at track's end, to the nervous laughter of the men themselves, it's a moment to savor. It's also a fine example of how music in non-Western cultures primarily serves as a social function, not idle entertainment.

Other highlights include the varied talents of a young man named Portasi, who plays three variations of a song on three seperate instruments - a sanza or thumb piano, a lote or notched flute, and a one-stringed violin. In these performances, it is possible to hear links to the American South and the roots of the blues, and yet the melodies and rhythms of the pieces are far removed from Mississippi.

This cd is not for easy-listening, nor is it immediately accessible to those new to non-Western music. But it's a feast for the ears, and a wonderful trek through a fascinating culture that is fast disappearing, and deserves to be protected.