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Mvet
The mvet or mvett is a stringed musical instrument, a type of stick zither, Hornbostel-Sachs (311) of the Fang people of Gabon, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Equatorial Guinea. Somewhat resembling the Mande kora, but larger and simpler, it consists of a tubular stick of palm-raffia or bamboo, between one and two metres long, with usually three calabash resonators. A central vertical bridge divides four or five gut or metal strings, played both sides of the bridge. The instrument is held horizontally on the chest to close or open the central resonator with a movement of the arms. It may be played solo or may accompany song or poetry that includes epics, battle-songs, ritual, philosophy and knowledge of the world. Mvet also refers to the tradition of epic song singers, which is extremely rich in its thematic and stylistic diversity, in which the mythological stories and historical events of the Fang and related ethnic groups are described. For the F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fang People
The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon.Fang people Encyclopædia Britannica Representing about 85% of the total population of Equatorial Guinea, concentrated in the Río Muni region, the Fang people are its largest ethnic group. The Fang are also the largest ethnic group in Gabon, making up about a quarter of the population. Language The Fang people speak the Fang language, also known as Pahouin or Pamue or Pangwe. The language is a Northwest Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages.FangEthnologue< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bikutsi
Bikutsi is a musical genre from Cameroon. It developed from the traditional styles of the Beti, or Ewondo, people, who live around the city of Yaoundé. It was popular in the middle of the 20th century in West Africa. It is primarily dance music. Etymology The word 'bikutsi' literally means 'beat the earth' or 'let's beat the earth' (''bi''- indicates a plural, -''kut''- means 'to beat' and -''chi'' means 'earth'.) The name indicates a dance that is accompanied by stomping the feet on the ground. Description Bikutsi is characterised by an intense rhythm (3+3, with a strong "two" feel), though it is occasionally and its tempo is usually quarternote. it is played at all sorts of Beti gatherings, including parties, funerals and weddings. Beti gatherings fall into two major categories: * Ekang phase: the time when imaginary, mythological and spiritual issues are discussed * Bikutsi phase: when real-life issues are discussed A double sided harp with calabash amplification cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Of Cameroon
The music of the Cameroon includes diverse traditional and modern musical genres. The best-known contemporary genre is makossa, a popular style that has gained fans across Africa, and its related dance craze bikutsi. The pirogue sailors of Douala are known for a kind of singing called "Ngoso" which has evolved into a kind of modern music accompanied by zanza, balafon, and various percussion instruments. Traditional music The ethnicities of Cameroon include an estimated 250 distinct ethnic groups in five regional-cultural divisions. An estimated 38% of the population are Western highlanders– Semi-Bantu or grassfielders including the Bamileke, Bamum, and many smaller Tikar groups in the northwest. 12% are coastal tropical forest peoples, including the Bassa, Duala, and many smaller groups in the southwest. The southern tropical forest peoples (18%) include the Beti-Pahuin and their sub-groups the Bulu and Fang, the Maka and Njem, as well as, the Baka pygmies. In the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of and a population of million people. There are coastal plains, mountains (the Crystal Mountains (Africa), Cristal Mountains and the Chaillu Massif in the centre), and a savanna in the east. Libreville is the country's capital and largest city. Gabon's original inhabitants were the African Pygmies, Bambenga. In the 14th century, Bantu expansion, Bantu migrants also began settling in the area. The Kingdom of Orungu was established around 1700. France colonised the region in the late 19th century. Since its independence from France in 1960, Gabon has had four President of Gabon, presidents. In the 1990s, it introduced a multi-party system and a democratic constitution that aimed for a more tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinnari Vina
The ''kinnari vina'' (Sanskrit: किन्नरी वीणा) is a historical veena, a tube zither with gourds attached to act as resonators and frets. It was played in India into the late 19th century and was documented by two European artists. The instrument dates back into medieval times (documented in the 13th century) and possibly as far back as 500 C.E. It is closely related to the Alapini Vina and Eka-tantri Vina, the instruments having coexisted in medieval times. Along with the ''alapini vina'' and ''eka-tantri vina'', the ''kinnari vina'' was mentioned by Śārṅgadeva in his Sangita Ratnakara (written 1210 - 1247 C.E.) By the late 19th century, the ''kinnari vina'' survived as a "folk instrument," in South Kanara and Mysore, India, and in the modern ''bīn'' or ''rudra vina''. The instrument shares its name with the kinnara, Buddhist and Hindu mythological creatures that are pictured playing stick zithers or tube zithers. The kinnari vina is traditionally carved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equatoguinean Musical Instruments
Demographic features of the population of Equatorial Guinea include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population According to the total population was in , compared to only 226,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 14 in 2020 was 38.73%, 57.35% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.92% was 65 years or older. Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020) (Estimates or projections based on the 2015 population census.): Vital statistics Registration of vital events is in Equatorial Guinea not complete. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Demographic and Health Surveys Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011 (DHS Program): Life expectancy Ethnic groups Native ethnic groups The majority of the peo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West African Musical Instruments
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance languages (''ouest'' in French, ''oest'' in Catalan, ''ovest'' in Italian, ''vest'' in Romanian, ''oeste'' in Spanish and Portuguese). As in other languages, the word formation stems from the fact that west is the direction of the setting sun in the evening: 'west' derives from the Indo-European root ''*wes'' reduced from ''*wes-pero'' 'evening, night', cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος hesperos 'evening; evening star; western' and Latin vesper 'evening; west'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin occidens 'west' from occidō 'to go down, to set' and Hebrew מַעֲרָב (maarav) 'west' from עֶרֶב (erev) 'evening'. West is sometimes abbreviated as W. Navigation To go west using a compass for navigati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Of Gabon
Gabon's music includes several folk styles and pop. Gabonese pop artist Patience Dabany, who now lives in the US, produces albums recorded in Los Angeles with a distinctively Gabonese element; they are popular throughout Francophone Africa. Other musicians include guitarists Georges Oyendze, La Rose Mbadou and Sylvain Avara, and the singer Oliver N'Goma. Imported rock and hip hop from the US and UK are popular in Gabon, as are rumba, makossa and soukous. National music The national anthem of Gabon is " La Concorde", written and composed by Georges Aleka Damas and adopted in 1960 upon independence. Traditional music Gabon's population, estimated at 1,640,286, of whom 42% are minors (July 2013 est.), include four major Bantu groupings; the Fang, the Punu, the Nzebi and the Obamba. Gabon, to the French ethnographer Barabe, "is to Africa what Tibet is to Asia, the spiritual center of religious initiations", due to the sacred music of the Bwiti, the dominant religious doctri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Musical Instruments Of Cameroon
This article is a list of traditional musical instruments in Cameroon, based primarily on the research of Roger Blench (2009). Idiophones Idiophones of Cameroon include percussion instruments, untuned idiophones, tuned idiophones (xylophones), concussion instruments, and other instruments. Percussion *Slit gongs: historically used for long-distance communication, and often mimic tone (linguistics), tones in languages. Common throughout much of Africa, the tropical Americas, and Oceania. Called ''egyʉ̂k'' in Ejagham language, Ejagham, and also played by the Oroko language, Oroko people and by Nen language (Cameroon), Tunen speakers. Untuned idiophones *Struck plaques **Lithophones: played by the Mofu language, Mofu of northern Cameroon, and also in Central Nigeria and throughout the world. Women of the Noni language, Noni and other nearby ethnic groups in Bui (Cameroon department), Bui Division play flat lithophones. The Noni language, Noni lithophone consists of a ''ncéw'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bwiti
Bwiti is a spiritual discipline of the forest-dwelling Punu people and Mitsogo peoples of Gabon (where it is recognized as one of three official religions) and by the Fang people of Gabon. Modern Bwiti incorporates animism, ancestor worship, and in some cases, Christianity, into a syncretistic belief system. Bwiti practitioners use the psychedelic, dissociative root bark of the '' Tabernanthe iboga'' plant, specially cultivated for the religion, to promote radical spiritual growth, to stabilize community and family structure, to meet religious requirements, and to resolve pathological problems. The root bark has been consumed for hundreds of years in a Bwiti rite of passage ceremony, as well as in initiation rites and acts of healing. The experience yields complex visions and insights anticipated to be valuable to the initiate and the chapel. Liturgy Intoxicants in liturgy Taking Iboga brings both open and closed-eye visions which can be made stronger by darkness, ambiance, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calabash
Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, New Guinea butter bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvested young to be consumed as a vegetable, or harvested mature to be dried and used as a utensil, container, or a musical instrument. When it is fresh, the fruit has a light green smooth skin and white flesh. Calabash fruits have a variety of shapes: they can be huge and rounded, small and bottle-shaped, or slim and serpentine, and they can grow to be over a metre long. Rounder varieties are typically called calabash gourds. The gourd was one of the world's first cultivated plants grown not primarily for food, but for use as containers. The bottle gourd may have been carried from Asia to Africa, Europe, and the Americas in the course of human migration, or by seeds floating across the oceans inside the gourd. It has been proven to have been g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
