The Source of Sound

The Senufo people live in West Africa, in the countries Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali. They consist of diverse subgroups living in different regions.

Balafon

We will start with a balafon recording from the Kalibele Senufo from Nafoun in the Ivory Coast. The balafon is a xylophone made of tuned wooden planks with gourds as sound amplifiers that are additionally equipped with cobwebs or mirlitons that resonate with every strike of the plank above. The recording is made especially for the ethnomusicological research of Till Förster and was released by the Museum of Ethnology in Berlin on the double album Musik der Senufo.
We will continue with 3 more tracks from this album. First, a track  in honour of an elderly balafon player and to close a dance evening. The balafon is an important instrument to the Senufo and plays a role not only in dance music, but also in rituals and funerals. It is followed by a track that was played during the closing party of an initiation ritual, in which there is an important role for 2 balafons. The last track of this first part is a girl’s song by 2 singers about a childhood friend.

Funerals
The second part of the Source of sound continues with the album Senufo Fodonon funeral music, an album with music belonging to funerals. They are recordings by Michel de Lannoy, who worked in the musicology department at the University of Tours. The album was released by Le Chant du Monde on behalf of the French scientific institute CNRS, the Musée de L’Homme and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. You will hear 4 tracks from this album. It starts with a song from a woman’s funeral in which the women’s drum orchestra of the Women’s Union plays. The lyrics are inspired by the event and the life of the deceased without any consideration for the men. It is followed by a flute and drum orchestra giving thanks to the dignitaries of the district in which the deceased woman lived. Then we will hear an orchestra of about 15 single-stringed harps with a bass-like sound and 2 rattles playing at the funeral of a musician. Next is a song by the Mandinka hunters. The Mandinka are neighbours of the Senufo in northern Ivory Coast. They are playing at the funeral of a fellow Senufo hunter on a harp flute accompanied by 3 metal scrapers.

Music of the Senufo
Next you will hear 4 tracks of the album The Music of the Senufo with recordings by Hugo Zemp of the Musée de l’Homme. The album was released by Bärenreiter Musicaphon as part of the Unesco collection edited by Paul Collaer. The tracks played are ‘Flute Orchestra of the Chief’, followed by the track ‘Percussion instruments of the women’ featuring a water drum, a mortar and pestle and a gourd rattle. Then we will hear a trumpet orchestra and closing the second part is a song with accompaniment of iron rasps and a harp flute that is not played, but only struck on the gourd sound amplifier.

Senufo in Ghana and Burkina Faso
In the third and last part of this episode of the Source of sound, you will hear music from the Senufo from Ghana and Burkina Faso. We will start with a performance by the Kete orchestra of the Kralongo Royal Palace. It is a part of a video recording made by Ann Stahl in Ahenkro, Ghana with the Nafana Senufo. It is one of 7 films on show about this region at the University of Victoria in Canada.
It is followed by a YouTube recording of a Karaboro Senufo orchestra from Burkino Faso, recorded by a townsman of the musicians.

01 Demonstration eines Liedes für ethnographische Zwecke  0’59
LP Musik der Senufo
Museum Collection MC 4, C 2
recorded by Till Förster 26-09-1984
at Kalibele-Senufo, Nafoun, Ivory Coast

02 Ehrung eines alten Xylophonspielers  9’53
LP Musik der Senufo
Noukpélé Musikensemble aus Nafoun
4 balafons, 1 big and 1 small kettledrum
Museum Collection MC 4, B 2
recorded by Till Förster 08-09-1984
at Kalibele-Senufo, Nafoun, Ivory Coast

03 Abschlussfeier der Initianden  12’26
Mitglieder des Poro-Bundes aus Mimiri
2 balaphons, 2 long flutes, 1 goblet drum, 2 hourglassdrums,
2 dancers with bells, 1 dancer with a whip, and dancers
with clocks and hand clapping
LP Musik der Senufo
Museum Collection MC 4, D 1 B
recorded by Till Förster 17-05-1985
at Gbatobele-Senufo, Mirimiri, Ivory Coast

04 Mädchengesänge für den Jugendfreund  7’26
Songou Yéo, Nambougouba Tuo – vocals
LP Musik der Senufo
Museum Collection MC 4, A 1
recorded by Till Förster 29-08-1984
at Kalibele-Senufo, Nafoun, Ivory Coast

05 Songs of insult of the women’s Pono  1’49
Lataha Cepono orchestra
Ivory Coast, Senufo Fodonon funeral music
Le Chant du Monde LDX 74 838 CM 637, A 2
recorded by Michel de Lannoy 1976, 1981/1982
Lataha, Ivory Coast
Women’s funeral

06 Whistle and Drum Orchestra  1’55
Fefegele orchestra of the Soro clan
3 fefegele whistles, 1 jèmberi goblet drum,
1 kongono double headed drum
Ivory Coast, Senufo Fodonon funeral music
Le Chant du Monde LDX 74 838 CM 637, A 4b
recorded by Michel de Lannoy 1976, 1981/1982
Lataha, Ivory Coast
Day after the women’s funeral as attribute to the
dignitaries of the district of the deceased woman

07 Orchestra of singers and single-string harps  4’17
Bolonyè orchestra
15 single string harp players and singers, 2 large calabash rattles
The harp is played by beating the calabash sound box with their
left hand covered with metal rings and the instrument has metal
jingles on the top which are shaken with each movement.
Ivory Coast, Senufo Fodonon funeral music
Le Chant du Monde LDX 74 838 CM 637, B 1
recorded by Michel de Lannoy 1976, 1981/1982
Lataha, Ivory Coast
musician man’s funeral

08 Music of The Mandinka Hunters  3’48
1 six string harp and singer, a number of tubular metal scrapers
Ivory Coast, Senufo Fodonon funeral music
Le Chant du Monde LDX 74 838 CM 637, B 4
recorded by Michel de Lannoy 1976, 1981/1982
Lataha, Ivory Coast
Played by Mandinka hunters for a deceased Senufo fodonon hunter

09 Flute ensemble of the chief  1’50
2 mana cross-flutes, 2 tama hourglass drums
The Music of the Senufo
Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM 30 L 2308, A 4
recorded by Hugo Zemp 1965
Napiéoléougou, Ivory Coast
Nafara Senufo

10 Percussion instruments of the women  2’59
The Music of the Senufo
Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM 30 L 2308, A 6
recorded by Hugo Zemp 1965
Sityenyrikaha, Ivory Coast
Nafara Senufo

11 Trumpet orchestra  3’01
5 cross-blown trumpets, 1 one-skinned drum with both hands,
1 two skinned barrel drum with stick with right hand and one
iron bell struck with metal rings on the fingers of his left hand
The Music of the Senufo
Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM 30 L 2308, A 7
recorded by Hugo Zemp 1965
Navonongohaka, Ivory Coast
Nafara Senufo

12 Song with iron rasps  2’19
Singer with kori, six string harp-lute but he does not pluck it
only strikes the resonator, 2 singers with iron rasps
The Music of the Senufo
Bärenreiter Musicaphon BM 30 L 2308, A 7
recorded by Hugo Zemp 1965
Dyégon, Ivory Coast
Kofolo Senufo

13 Kete Performance  2’11
Kralongo Royal Palace Kete orchestra
4 players of long flutes and brass rattles, 2 drummers and a man
playing an iron bell
https://exhibits.library.uvic.ca/spotlight/iaff/catalog/17-19215
recorded Ann B. Stahl
Banda Cultural Centre, Ahenkro, Ghana 28 June, 2019
The Nafana Senufo Kete tradition taken over from the Kulango people
and indirectly from the Akan Ashanti people.
There are a number of video’s on the Nafana Senufo of Ghana which can be seen at the
University of Victoria Libraries in Canada

14 Djiguiya du Burkina Faso  5’38
2 Balaphones, 2 kettle drums, 1 hourglass drum, 1 iron bell,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRQ7tj0RJW4
recorded Diquiya Kargiguéla