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Artist
Music of the Central African Pygmies
8+ albums
ethnictraditional
about
This collection, which calls attention to a people currently engaged in a battle against extinction, preserves forever the rarely heard and surprisingly accessible rhythms of the songs of the Ba-Benjelle Pygmies. For the Pygmies of the Ituri rainforest in Central Africa, music is as much a part of their lives as waking, eating and breathing; their vocal-based music resonating in exquisite harmony with the environment. Through the eyes and ears of three extraordinary men, Echoes of the Forest reveals an intimate portrait of perhaps the most musical people on earth. The 18 tracks on the CD were recorded between the 50's and 90's by three people, Colin Turnbull, Jean-Pierre Hallet, and Louis Sarno. Colin Turnbull's anthropological work in the late 50's and 60's revolutionized Western thinking about Pygmy culture. His field notes and recordings of Pygmy music are among the first and the finest. Jean-Pierre Hallet grew up at the edge of the Ituri and befriended the Efe Pygmies as a child. Through The Pygmy Fund, he has helped them stand firm against forces encroaching upon their forest homeland. New Jersey native Louis Serno heard a Pygmy song on the radio and his life changed forever. A one-way ticket took him to Central Africa where, ten years later, he still lives and records. In his own words: "They wanted to show me more than they usually show outsiders. In exchange, they demanded I give my life...I think it is a fair exchange." User-contributed text is available under th
