- Title: BURUNDI: ANCIENT TRADITION OF WHISPER SONGS DEDICATED TO COWS
- Date: 28th September 1999
- Summary: VARIOUS STREET SCENES WITH HERD OF CATTLE AND PEOPLE WALKING CHILDREN STANDING AT A STREET-SIDE STALL (SOUNDBITE) (Kirundi) JOSEPH TOROBEKA SAYING "Cattle herds are so much smaller these days, and the way they are farmed has changed. I'm not sure that modern cows would appreciate our music these days." TOROBEKA WAVES AND WALKS INTO ROOM WHERE A BAND IS PLAYING; GREETS A FRIEND, DJINDA
- Embargoed: 13th October 1999 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, BURUNDI
- Country: Burundi
- Topics: Arts,Quirky,People
- Reuters ID: LVAE3HH0GX3Z5ZZD8Z7KODO1JB69
- Story Text: A soft, unusual melody sung in tribute, to a cow which has just given birth.
Joseph Torobeka is one of the last people in Burundi still singing these unusual and haunting "whisper songs" once widespread among the country's farmers.
Cattle are the ultimate sign of wealth in Burundi and have long occupied a privileged position in its society.
The devotion of Burundians to their cows is central to the development of whisper singing in this tiny central African country.
In the past cattle herders would sing these songs, accompanied on the inanga, to help calm their cows down in the evening as well as to keep themselves awake.
At the beginning of this century most Burundian men knew how to play the inanga, an ancient and simple instrument carved from wood.
At the royal court - inanga players strummed constantly for the biggest cattle owner of them all - the king.
But as Burundian society has changed so has the role of the cow and of the inanga.
Although Joseph can no longer count on his two horned admirers to be a good audience - he still believes in preserving the musical traditions of his country.
Others share his belief - but for his friend Djinda - a jazz guitarist - preserving traditional music also means bringing it up to date.
He has developed electric inangas and other modernised traditional instruments - many of which were destroyed at the outset of Burundi's civil war.
The continued ethnic fighting in Burundi makes it very difficult to care so much about music.
Before the civil war - in 1990 - Joseph sat down in a studio to record some whisper songs.
For him it was a question of safe-guarding this music for future generations.
Joseph has found an important ally in his quest to conserve traditional music, in Claude Flagel, a Belgian music producer.
For years Flagel has been collecting and recording a wide variety of traditional music - before it disappears entirely.
For Joseph Torobeka though - preserving traditional music is about more than just archives and libraries.
It's about bringing it to life now.
Children like these - who during the school holidays are taking time to learn the inanga, the ingoma drum and a host of other traditional instruments.
Despite Joseph's best wishes though - playing these instruments will always be just a pastime for these children.
He is probably the only artist left in Burundi who still makes a living off the inanga - with his recordings and an occasional concert tour of Europe.
But while there might not be a financial future in traditional Burundian music - these children will at least have a whispered song about their past to pass on to their children. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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