- Title
- Talking drums of the Upper Congo
- Creator
- Rev. W. H. Ford and two drummers. Singili and Kobo (ulungula bo kiokio)
- Creator
- Hugh Tracey
- Subject
- Lokele (African people)
- Subject
- Folk music
- Subject
- Field recordings
- Subject
- Africa, Sub-Saharan
- Subject
- Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Yakusa f-cg
- Date Issued
- 1952
- Date
- 1952
- Type
- sound recordings
- Type
- field recordings
- Type
- sound recording-musical
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/169066
- Identifier
- vital:41680
- Identifier
- International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
- Identifier
- TR0129-01
- Description
- This recording of the sound of genuine talking drums was made on the banks of the Congo River near Stanleyville, where the river steamers coming up-stream form Leopoldville, 1000 miles away, are held up bt the first rapids named after H. M. Stanley, the great explorer. He first saw them in 1876 on his famous first journey across Africa from East to West. The Lokele people of this region have always been famous for their drum messages. Stanley, writing about them said "They have not yet adopted electric signals but possess a system of communication quite as effective. Their huge drums by being struck in several parts convey language as clear to the initiated as vocal speech." The drum messages can still be heard up and down the river although these days with modern communication methods the people do not need to use their drums as they used to, and consequently it is said to be dying out as so many other African crafts. A missionary , the Reverand John Carrington, from the Baptist mission at Yakusu wrote an excellent book on these Lokele talking drums of the Upper Congo river, the same kind of drums that Stanley heard. For years he had been studying the Lokele language of the people around the mission at Yakusu, but at the time of recording he was many miles down the river, and not available. His colleague from the Yakusu Mission, Mr W. H. Ford, who had also made a keen study of the language, here explains something of the theory behind the sending of drum messages in Central Congo, as experienced both by himeself and by John Carrington. Drum messaages with wooden slit drum.
- Format
- mp3
- Format
- 7" Reel
- Format
- 96000Hz 24Bit Stereo
- Format
- Studer B67 Recorder
- Format
- Sound Forge V.6
- Format
- 00:13:00
- Publisher
- International Library of African Music
- Language
- Kele
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Ceative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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ILAM Hugh Tracey Sound of Africa Series
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | 1. Talking drums of the Upper Congo TR129-01.mp3 | 12 MB | MP3 Audio File (Tagged) | View Details Download |