We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Mondume

from Eboka by Bayaka

supported by
yastavich
yastavich thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €1.50 EUR  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

The mondumé is a harp-zither with six notes. It has no resonating chamber and is usually played over a pot for amplification. The baAka have told me that the mondumé is one of their own original instruments; I myself have not seen the instrument among any neighboring peoples. However, an eight-string version with gourd resonator is an important instrument among the Fang in northern Gabon, who call it mvet. The Fang are themselves forest dwellers who live in close association with the Baka. Did the Fang adopt the instrument from the Baka, or vice versa? It would be interesting to investigate this question. The mondumé has a repertoire that is quite distinct from the geedal repertoire. Its softer tone is ideally suited to intimate forest camps. Often it is played solo at night while the rest of camp sleeps, its melodies weaving in and out of people’s dreams. The present selection was recorded in a forest camp in 1996. In the dark of night Bokau emerged from his hut, sat down in front, and began to strum away on his mondumé, singing softly. As darkness thinned into dawn his wife Nzongé, still inside, added her voice to his. Sounds of encouragement came from Balonyona across camp, listening from inside his hut and probably still in bed. I was sleeping in the mbanjo (sleeping shelter for visitors, bachelors, widowers and teenage boys) a few yards away from Bokau, and recorded from there. In this gentle manner did camp greet dawn that day.

credits

from Eboka, released October 5, 2019
Bokau - mondume and vocals

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Sound Reporters Amsterdam, Netherlands

Sound Reporters let you listen to the sonic world and the musics of humans and other sentient beings. It goes beyond the definitions of music of the classic and popular genres and their schools. Sound Reporters feels akin to the sound expressions of the indigenous peoples and the sounds of natural phenomena.
The Sound Reporters Bandcamp channel is run by Maxim Chapochnikov and Fred Gales. ... more

contact / help

Contact Sound Reporters

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Sound Reporters, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now