My musical tastes are eclectic, lending to having grown up in the Jim Crow world of the 50′s and 60′s and to my exposure to many cultures during times abroad in the 70′s. Among my favorite genres are rhythm and blues, jazz, rap and world music because they most closely represent the significant cultural influences in my life.
If I am pressed to commit to such a thing, I’d have to say my all-time favorite band is Deep Forest, the collaboration of French musicians Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet. They compose a new kind of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance/chillout beats. Their sound has been described as ‘ethno-introspective ambient world music’. Their debut album, Deep Forest, mixes New Age electronics with UNESCO field recordings of music from Zaire, the Solomon Islands, Burundi, Tibesti and the Sahel.
Recently I discovered a favorite track from the first album posted on YouTube. Play Night Bird as you read further.
The haunting yet pleasing yodeling is from a group of young Baka women from the Ituri Rainforest that stretches across Cameroon, Congo and parts of Burundi. They were recorded by an ethnomusicologist working in Burundi in 1967 and this is their formal greeting for guests.
In the few decades since these incredible voices were recorded, the Baka (or Aka or BiAka or Mbuti or ‘pygmies’, as they are known) are disappearing at an alarming rate. As a result of encroachment, destruction of habitat, slavery and the Congo Civil War (2003), their numbers have dwindled to less than 30,000.
Rather than viewing them as ‘primitive’ (and thus valueless) as we in the West typically do, why not learn from these very old peoples? And, old they are, having a high predominance of L1, the oldest genetic haplotype on Earth.
One thing I learned is that Baka fathers spend more time in close contact to their babies than in any other known society. Baka fathers have their infant within arms reach 47% of the time and have been described as the ‘best Dads in the world.’ It has been observed that they pick up, cuddle, and play with their babies at least five times as often as fathers in other societies. It is believed that this is due to the strong bond between Baka husband and wife. Throughout the day, couples share hunting, food preparation, and social and leisure activities. The more time Baka parents spend together, the greater the father’s loving interaction with his baby. Would that I’d spent more time cuddling and playing with my son.
It’s difficult to accept that these incredible voices may be silenced in our lifetime. Please recognize that the destruction of their culture is happening concurrently with others the world over and that losing any one of these ancient cultures is losing a part of our collective self.
No Comments on "Deep Forest"