The Source of Sound involves the material, the movement and the vibration of which music arises.
The forest area of Guinea, Guinée Forestière
A Source of Sound about the inhabitants of Guinée Forestière, a mountainous and forested area in southeast Guinea in West Africa. The region borders Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast, and is inhabited by people who call themselves Manon, Manya, Toma, Kono, Koniaka, Kissi, Guerzé, or Kpelle. It is a remote area, less influenced by the trends of the country’s center but also vulnerable to militias, mineral hunters, civil wars, and diseases that ravaged Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nonetheless, it is a musically diverse region, relatively unknown, and this music is the focus of this sound source. First of all, the LP 100% Guinée Forestière released in 2019, but also recordings made by Gilbert Rouget in this region in 1952 with some later French recordings, and finally some gems from the archive of Syliphone, the national record company of Guinea, which are now all listenable through the British Library thanks to Australian Graeme Counsel.
https://sounds.bl.uk/search?q=syliphone
01 B1 Koko de Gbata kort.wav 1’42
guëlën, yō yō, zang
Kono
LP 100% Guinée Forestière
Ouch! Records V001/10, B1
rec. Frédéric Migeon. 1999
02 Tulou de Kankoré 5’17
Manon
LP 100% Guinée Forestière
Ouch! Records V001/10, A1
rec. Frédéric Migeon. 1999
03 Sigba Pogba 4’46
Ouélé Bilavogui – zang; Siba Pogba – bèlè gweï (harp), zang
Toma
LP 100% Guinée Forestière
Ouch! Records V001/10, A2
rec. Frédéric Migeon. 1999
04 Guëlën de Tilépoulou 3’52
Claude Zogbelemou – guëlën (xylofoon), zang; Michel Zogbelemou – guëlën;
Simon-Pierre Monémou – yō yō (rammelaar), zang
Guerzé
LP 100% Guinée Forestière
Ouch! Records V001/10, A3
rec. Frédéric Migeon. 2001
05 Zézé Wolo 3’17
Zézé Wolo – gwènin (harpluit), zang
Guerzé
LP 100% Guinée Forestière
Ouch! Records V001/10, B2
Lied over de geschiedenis van de Guerzé
rec. Frédéric Migeon. 2001
06 Kono de Yumata.wav 3’31
Kono (percussie-instrument gemaakt van een koehoorn
en een stuk bamboe met een gleuf), kèè (rammelaar), zang
Guerzé
LP 100% Guinée Forestière
Ouch! Records V001/10, B4
rec. Frédéric Migeon. 2000
07 Batterie Malinké – Koukou 3’04
Malinké
LP Pondo Kakou – Musique de société secrete
Musée de l’homme MC 20.141, B6
Karala, district Nzérékoré, Guinée
rec. Gilbert Rouget 1952
08 Chant des Chasseur 2’14
Malinké
LP Pondo Kakou – Musique de société secrete
Musée de l’homme MC 20.141, B7
Karala, district Nzérékoré, Guinée
rec. Gilbert Rouget 1952
09 Duo des Harpes.wav 2’19
Malinké
LP Pondo Kakou – Musique de société secrete
Musée de l’homme MC 20.141, B8
Kankan, Guinée
rec. Gilbert Rouget 1952
10 Tonta fakori, tonta niaoua.wav 2’22
Sekou Kourouma zang. Dielou konou (luit)
Malinké
Guinée francaise
Africa Vox GT 39 AX 153, B
rec. at Souribadougou 1957
11 Key Hin Bala 8’28
Cécé Kolié, Antoine Sagno, Foromo Gbamou,
Foromo Onikouyamou, Germain Doparogui,
Guo-Guo Camara, Kokoli Haba, Mariba Lamassigui
– drums, xylophones and percussion
Guerzé of Kpelle
Rec. at the Maison des Cultures du Monde Paris, 1998
12 Syliphone4-625-06.wav 4’02
musicians unknown
Kissi
rec C. M. Elvarez, Nèné Matou Diallo
Macenta 1970
Guinea’s Syliphone Archives Syliphone4-625-06
Graeme Counsel – British Library
13 Syliphone 4-625-11.wav 3’16
musicians unknown
Kissi
rec C. M. Elvarez, Nèné Matou Diallo
Macenta 1970
Guinea’s Syliphone Archives Syliphone 4-625-11
Graeme Counsel – British Library
14 Syliphone 4-625-19.wav 10’42
musicians unknown
Toma
rec C. M. Elvarez, Nèné Matou Diallo
Macenta 1970
Guinea’s Syliphone Archives Syliphone 4-625-19
Graeme Counsel – British Library
