“Polyphonies, polyphiles” is the name of this musical show presented at the Alliance française de Bangui, the fruit of the meeting between polyphonic pygmy songs and the legendary Bambari horns.
as reported from Bangui, Carol Valade
It is a meeting led by guitarist Camel Zekri, the French-Algerian musicologist and composer, who has spent his life traveling Africa in search of the most original music. And the result is enchanting.
“I suggest we start a song!” In Bangui, Camel Zekri is nicknamed “the great pygmy” because of its size, which contrasts with its musicians. Central African music has fascinated him for twenty years, but this is the first time he has collected the legendary Bambari tubes – huge roots eroded by the termites’ action, which requires a lot of patience and long walks in the bush to find them – with the pygmy polyphonies from Lobaye , enrolled in UNESCO World Heritage Site.
To the rhythm of long walks in the woods
“We got to know artists from the savannah, it’s a great experience,” says one of the Pygmy artists. A small balancing act for some, the rhythm of long walks in the woods for others, and in the center, Camel Zekri: “So I have a European instrument, a guitar. I use it as a link between these two polyphonies, instrumental and vocal, which all have their own rules. “A balance that is sometimes difficult to find. “There are cycles that are a little different, you have to keep the course because otherwise I go on one side, I go on the other. I’m trying to find what holds the whole thing together. “
A way to “demuse” traditional music and prove that it is constantly evolving beyond folklore. “Polyphonies, polyphiles”, which gave its first concert in Bangui this Saturday, June 12, is going to France for the festival tour this summer.
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