Juma pembe
- Authors: Simai Bini Ali with Swahili men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Zanzibar f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179889 , vital:43246 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR171-02
- Description: This short song is used for waking up the people for their last meal-the second of the night during the fast of Ramadhan. The singers go around singing and playing the drum at about 1-2 a.m. It is a picturesque Swahili/Mohammedan custom. The to membranes of the bass drum are tuned to different notes. Kigoma cha daku songs, with 2 tin rattles, 1 double-sided bass drum.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Mpenzi wangu kusafiri gani?
- Authors: Moshi Ufunguo and his party , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Tabora f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179577 , vital:43120 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR170-03
- Description: The leader is well knon in Tabora as a cafe entertainer particularly for his humorous interjections - he starts by introducing himself by name. The record was made in a small room which serves as a club and opens out directly onto the street. The small xylophone was said to have come from the other side of Lake Tanganyika in the Congo from the Manyema people. Many members of Congo tribes have migrated into Tanganyika across the lake on account of the trade by the railway to coast used first by the Arabs and later by the railway to Dar-es-Salaam. The sons of these men who still claim to be tribesmen of the Congo were born in Tanganyika and speak and sing only in Swahili. The style is not local and perhaps originates in the Albertville region of Southern Congo. The tone of voice of these cafe singers is typical of those whose major payment is in kind, whic after a while blurs the edge of their voices and their performances. Humorous song, with Malimba xylophone x 8 and Basket rattle.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Gbalabalatauw iye hihe – Work song
- Authors: Mbuti men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Songs, Swahili , Mbuti (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Pygmies , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Gombari f-cg
- Language: Congo Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168295 , vital:41561 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0125-17
- Description: This song is performed early in the morning, following the day when the Pygmies have moved their camp and havr just completed the making of another. The 'huts' are very primitive shelters made of twigs and leaves and are soon abandoned as the game moves away to other parts of the forest. A small forest bird can be heard at the end of this song. Curative song.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Ila, kafa, nduga zangu (Whenever I die, my friend)
- Authors: Ramadhani Fataki (Udi), Saidi Salum Nana (Mandoline) and Tatu Binti Jama , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Mwanza f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179638 , vital:43129 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR170-09
- Description: The Arab influence is still strong up country particularly along the old Arab trading routes. All the seven items on this side of the disc represent an evening's entertainment spent with a Mohamedan Swahili family in Tabora whose taste in music leans towrds the Arab side of the family than the African. Two close friends who frequently play together in the evenings recorded these items. The wife of one of them provides some of the solos. They are typical, no doubt, of a musical evening at home by Swahili players anywhere in East Africa. All the items were recorded in the small sitting room of their Swahili home. The men singers sat around a table in the light of a parafin lamp and their veiled wwomefolk sat on mats in the adjoining rooms, watching through the doorways. "Whenever I die, my friend, either in town or country, among hites or blacks, play and dance Rungu for me at my funeral." Topical Taarab song, with 1 Udi, 1 Mandoline and 1 Duff tambourine drum (-14.91-).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Swaluu-Alah manyaana bilbay yinatil
- Authors: Watoto wa Madrasa el-Hasanain , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Dar-es-Salaam f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179496 , vital:43071 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR169-13
- Description: All items on this disc are included as example of the African adoptation of Arabic styles of music on the coast. This choice is composed of 12 young Swahili boys with a man soloist (el-ustadh) and three teachers playing the "duff" tambourines. Arabic and the lingua franca, Swahili, are part of the inheritance of all the coast dwellers and on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. It is interesting to note how easily these African born Swahili children appear to adopt Arabic music with far greater facility that the efforts of most African children to sing European songs Kasida, Moslem Religious chants, with 3 Duff frame drums (tambourines).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Salumu sambusa
- Authors: Omari Saidi with Swahili men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Zanzibar f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179919 , vital:43249 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR171-05
- Description: The Mkwaju dance is popular, they say, amongst the more African element of this Swahili population which also shows a tendency towards Arabian and sometimes to Indian music. The population of the island is complex and consists of representatives of several East African tribes in addition to Arab, Indian and Shirazi peoples, and their offspring of mixed marriages. The effect in terms of musical performances is equally complex without unanimity, a phenomena found in other communities of mixed tribal and national marriages. The xylophone is being used as a rhythmic and not as a melodic bass. As the singers wander away from the pitch set by the instrument and pay little or no regard to it. From the style of singing it is suspected that the melody comes from the coastal regions further south from the Makua people of Mozambique - No confirmation of this suggestion could be obtained largely on account of the fact that the performers were second or third generation of mixed marriages on the island. Mkwaju dance song for men, with Marimba xylophone box rattle (-12.61-) and 2 friction sticks (-12.61-).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Curative song
- Authors: Mbuti men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Songs, Swahili , Mbuti (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Pygmies , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Gombari f-cg
- Language: Congo Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168304 , vital:41562 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0125-18
- Description: This song is performed when a Pygmy is ill in order to help him recover. They do not believe in foreign medicine and rarely bring their people out of the forest to hospital. Curative song.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
The Honey Harvest
- Authors: Group of Mbuti Pygmy men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Songs, Swahili , Mbuti (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Pygmies , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Mbau-Mbili f-cg
- Language: Congo Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168196 , vital:41550 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0125-06
- Description: These pygmies who live in the South Eastern part of the Ituri forest, North of the small town of Beni are of the Mbuti tribe. They are small light coloured men, good looking and diginified in their bearing, far more so than the Nande, a neighbouring Bantu tribe which exploits their activities in hunting and honey gathering, frequently taking from them by force or right more than half of what they catch or gather. Instantly, at the sound of these pipes which they also play for dances the small men threw up their heads and with lips extended as if making the sound "oo" produced yodells or other notes far more powerful than one would expect from ones so small. Yodelling song, the second with sticks.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Wachawe wananipata
- Authors: Simai Bini Ali with Swahili men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Zanzibar f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179884 , vital:43245 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR171-01
- Description: This short song is used for waking up the people for their last meal-the second of the night during the fast of Ramadhan. The singers go around singing and playing the drum at about 1-2 a.m. It is a picturesque Swahili/Mohammedan custom. The to membranes of the bass drum are tuned to different notes. Kigoma cha daku songs, with 2 tin rattles, 1 double-sided bass drum.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Majirani njoni (Come here, friends)
- Authors: Omari Saidi with Swahili men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Zanzibar f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179911 , vital:43248 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR171-04
- Description: The Mkwaju dance is popular, they say, amongst the more African element of this Swahili population which also shows a tendency towards Arabian and sometimes to Indian music. The population of the island is complex and consists of representatives of several East African tribes in addition to Arab, Indian and Shirazi peoples, and their offspring of mixed marriages. The effect in terms of musical performances is equally complex without unanimity, a phenomena found in other communities of mixed tribal and national marriages. Mkwaju dance song for men, with Marimba xylophone box rattle (-12.61-) and 2 friction sticks (-12.61-).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Dezi kanambia
- Authors: Ramadhani Fataki (Udi), Saidi Salum Nana (Mandoline) and Tatu Binti Jama , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Mwanza f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179650 , vital:43125 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR170-08
- Description: The Arab influence is still strong up country particularly along the old Arab trading routes. All the seven items on this side of the disc represent an evening's entertainment spent with a Mohamedan Swahili family in Tabora whose taste in music leans towrds the Arab side of the family than the African. Two close friends who frequently play together in the evenings recorded these items. The wife of one of them provides some of the solos. They are typical, no doubt, of a musical evening at home by Swahili players anywhere in East Africa. All the items were recorded in the small sitting room of their Swahili home. The men singers sat around a table in the light of a parafin lamp and their veiled wwomefolk sat on mats in the adjoining rooms, watching through the doorways. Topical Taarab song, with 1 Udi, 1 Mandoline and 1 Duff tambourine drum (-14.91-).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Stanleyville putulu
- Authors: Orchestra Tinapa , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Folk songs, Zande , Alur (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Stanleyville f-cg
- Language: Zande/Vongara
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168110 , vital:41542 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0124-12
- Description: "We are mad about dancing at Stanleyville." They may be mad about their dancing, but the Congo style of town dance is new to them and they perform like beginners. Beguine dance, with dance band, 2 guitars, 2 clarinets, 1 friction stick and 1 bottle and knife.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Mbo II
- Authors: Chief Bianoko and Buudu men , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Songs, Swahili , Bira (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Pygmies , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Gombe f-cg
- Language: Bira
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168343 , vital:41570 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0126-02
- Description: The Buudu is one of the north Eastern Congo Bantu tribes which makes good use of slit drums of groups, both for sending signals and for dances. The largest of these are frequently found roughly shaped like an antelope with head, tail and legs protruding from the body of the drum, carved out of a single log. The almost mechanical exactness of the performance of these five men in typically African strict tempo is quite remarkable, dull perhaps to the outsider who does not participate, but highly conducive of the motoe-reaction of the dancers. Drum rhythm, tall slit drum shaped like an animal, 2 pod drums, 2 small slit drums.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Hi-e mungwe
- Authors: Chief Bianoko and his tipoyi carriers , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Songs, Swahili , Bira (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Pygmies , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Gombe f-cg
- Language: Bira
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168374 , vital:41574 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0126-05
- Description: The second song strongly resembles those of the Pygmies who were sole occupants of the Ituri forest before the Mabuudu arrived in this locality. They speak of these Mbuti pygmies as Mbutu, a local variation of the pronunciation. Most of the native notables, chiefs and other functionaries are carried around the country from place to place in sedan chairs locally called "tipoyi". The carriers have evolved their oen 'tipoyi' songs and dances. Song and dance with ivory horn basket rattles (-12.54-) and small bell (-12.55-).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Ambiga
- Authors: Mudumbu , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Songs, Swahili , Bira (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Pygmies , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Gombe f-cg
- Language: Bira
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168425 , vital:41580 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0126-09
- Description: The singer's face resembled a West African mask with extremely slanting eyes. He sang with his Mbira pressed against the side of his face giving a strange impression of a spirit out of the forest. Topical song with Likembe (Mbira).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Jean Ndjela kwa commissaire (Jean Ndjela before the magistrate)
- Authors: Ombiza Charles , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Folk songs, Zande , Alur (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Stanleyville f-cg
- Language: Zande/Vongara
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168073 , vital:41538 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0124-9
- Description: Jean Ndjela (a personal friend of Ombiza's) was a thief on a grand scale. When arrested for stealing goods to the value of 2 to 3 million francs, about 20,000 pounds, he implicated a number of other people to whom he had given stolen goods and when he appeared before the court he was followed, not only by them, but by ten porters bearing the stolen merchandise on their heads 'enough to stock another shop.' The singer concludes with the words "Jean Ndjela, I wish you courage and patience. I only hope you will not die in prison." Topical song, with guitar, bottle and friction stick.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Ndiri (1st recording)
- Authors: Albert Lokwa na Jarimo , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Folk songs, Zande , Alur (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Mahagi f-cg
- Language: Zande/Vongara
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168046 , vital:41534 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0124-06
- Description: The instruments played by the Alur are typical of the Congo family of Likembe, or box Mbira. The Alur are one of the great Luo groups of tribes and are found both in Uganda and North East Congo. These two Likembe are an octave apart and sound very well played together, though the singing in the first song is crude in comparison with the delicacy of the accompaniment. The song 'Ndiri' with its brilliant accompaniment was so striking that I recorded it a second time to see what variations the players would employ. Both editions are reproduced on this disc for close comparision. The treble Likembe is called Natine and the bass Minu an octave lower. Topical song with Likembe and a struck stick.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952
Shombo Binti Hasani (Binti Hasani, you smell)
- Authors: Ramadhani Fataki and 'Ngoma ya Udi' , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Tabora f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179874 , vital:43244 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR170-14
- Description: A song of the back streets with its somewhat realistic stark humour at the expense of the slut Binti Hasani. The melody is well known along the East Coast in several different versions. In Dar-es-Salaam it is known as "Pole, mama Kitwana, upia pole mpenzi wei." Humorous song, with 1 Udi and 1 Duff tambourine
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Pemba ina siri
- Authors: Egyptian musical club , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1950
- Subjects: Folk music--Africa , Folk music--Tanzania , Swahili-speaking peoples , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Tanzania Dar-es-Salaam f-tz
- Language: Swahili
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179531 , vital:43075 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR169-16
- Description: The island of Pemba lies just north of Zanzibar and is the greater producer of cloves of the two islands. Love song, with 2 Udi, 1 Cello, 1 mandoline, 1 Dambak, 1 Kayamba rattle, and 3 violas.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1950
Colette
- Authors: Orchestra Tinapa , Hugh Tracey
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Folk songs, Zande , Alur (African people) , Swahili-speaking peoples , Folk music , Field recordings , Africa, Sub-Saharan , Africa Democratic Republic of Congo Stanleyville f-cg
- Language: Zande/Vongara
- Type: sound recordings , field recordings , sound recording-musical
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168123 , vital:41543 , International Library of African Music, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa , TR0124-13
- Description: "Colette begs you for money but gives you nothing in return." "I know I owe you money and I will give it to you but I do not have any now. I spoke to you one day and you would not reply. If you would agree to love me for only one day I would take it as a whole month. Colette. There is nothing wrong with Stanleyville. We all know it is a perfect place." 'Rumba' dance with 1 guitar, bottle and friction stick.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1952