Mende song
Ethnomusicological sound recording made by Cootje van Oven. Mende song asking for assistance from Mother, accompanied by three shegbureh, one kongoma and one fa. The harmonies are more interesting in this piece than before (just 4ths and 5ths), because there is more variety and the harmonies are closer (sometimes 3rds and 2nds). The main singer seems to move from tonic up to augmented subdominant down to subdominant down to mediant (lowered) and down to tonic (1-4.5-4-3(b)-1). The secondary singers harmonized at times, in 3rds and sometimes in 2nds - interesting. The photograph depicts the kongoma and fa. The shegbureh, apparently is always played by women, is a stalked gourd surrounded by a network of beads or buttons (occasionally shells) on strings. The end of the strings is held in one hand, the stalk of the gourd in the other. Rhythmic movements of the gourd produce the desired rattle of the beads or buttons against the gourd. The kongoma is a wooden box with a sound hole over which a few (in this case three) metal blades are fixed. The blades are plucked with the fingers of one hand while the side of the box is hit with the other hand. The blades are usually hacksaw blades. The fa is a seed pod with corrugated side rubbed with the rimmed lid of a tin.
Related Videos
Further Information
- Type: Sound Recording, Musical instruments
- Object: Mende song
- Materials: No Data / Other
- Culture Group: Mende
- Dimensions: No Data
- Production Date: 1966.12.21
- Associated Places: Banda juma, Sowa Chiefdom, Pujehun District [Place recorded]
- Associated People: Cootje van Oven [Sound Recordist]; Herb Clark [Sound Recordist]
- Museum: Cootje Van Oven Collection
- Accession Number: CVO:250
Related Objects
Mende song
Sound Recording, Musical instruments
Mende performance
Sound Recording, Musical instruments
Mende performance
Sound Recording, Musical instruments
Mende song
Sound Recording, Musical instruments
Mende religious song
Sound Recording, Musical instruments