MTWARA TANZANIA by KINK GONG 2000

MTWARA AREA SOUTH TANZANIA

The Mtwara area is situated at the boarder with Mozambique on the coast of the Indian ocean and is predominantly a Makonde ethnic zone.This cd is a compilation of 2 very different ethnic groups with radically different cultural approach, the first part is a recording of a MAKONDE ceremony and the second part is a MUSLIM ceremony.

1, 2 The MAKONDE ceremony is a celebration of the end of sexual initiation of young girls, 12 years old girls are taken for a week to a remote area by older women who teach them sex and how to handle a wooden dildo in their vagina, the party taking place is a gathering of all members of this fishermen community in Ravula village (about 100 people), fueled by limitless consumption of local fermented corn alcohol. The drums are ordinary plastic containers, the metallic percussions are ordinary agriculture tools and they also use various one meter plastic tubes like didgeridoos for the bass frequencies, with some women singing, the party lasting several days often reach a kind of trance.

3, 4 QASIDA NIGHT CEREMONY
the MUSLIM ceremony taking place all night long in the small town of Msimbati is very differently codified, following muslim religious principles, prohibiting alcohol and sexual frenzy. It is a gathering of about 1500 people with religious prayers being chanted through an electrified sound system with a very arabic style of flute playing, to go along with an ensemble of percussions of various sizes and large choir of young girls all dressed in white. As you can listen I am going through the large crowd to reach a favorable recording spot, trying to find the percussions ensemble.

5 a pure scene of trance taking place on an island where the MAKONDE fishermen are willing to get wild, hitting plastic containers for the sound, drunk and stoned men and women are hysterically jumping and falling on each others.

RECORDED BY LAURENT JEANNEAU WITH JAMES STEPHENSON
IN FEBRUARY 2000. photo James Stephenson

Under the name KINK GONG you find 2 activities, the 1st one is to record ethnic minority music mostly in south-east Asia, the 2nd is to transform, collage, recompose the original recordings into experimental soundscapes.

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