OCORA
Ocora is a French record label specializing in authentic recordings of world music. It was founded in 1957 by composer, pianist and musicologist Charles Duvelle. Ocora is part of Radio France.
Kabiyé Orchestras & Lithophones
Rhythm is paramount to the Kabiyé of Northern Togo. This recording presents a selection of music played by the tribe's orchestras consisting of percussive instruments, flutes, whistles and trumpets. Also heard is the rare pichanchalassi lithophone ('the sound of the stones') -- an instrument played for entertainment and in initiation rites of young boys. These fascinating ethnic music recordings were made in Togo between 2001 and 2004 by Lorenzo Bianchi and Daniele Segre Amar.
Burkina Faso: Lobi Country
The Lobi people of Southern Burkina Faso and Northern Ghana and Ivory Coast were fiercely resistant to colonization and remain a relatively close society today. This has aided the continuing existence of marvelous xylophone music to accompany funerals and initiation ceremonies. This album is of music played on buur xylophones, buur also being the name for the closing ceremony of the initiation of diviners. Recordings from 1998.
Central Africa Musical Anthology of the Aka Pygmies
The Aka are one of the three groups of Pygmies found in Central Africa today. They are monogamous and settle in small family encampments that comprise parents, children, sons, and daughters-in-law and offspring, groups of thirty to forty persons organized in democratic communities. Pygmy music ,in the image of all their social activities, presents very similar characteristics, that is to say, relative autonomy of each participant within implied but strict structures. The recordings of this antho…