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Interview/ Concert Preview
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San Franciso Chronicle, Interview/ Concert Preview >>
BENIN BRASS BAND
by j. poet
When Benin's Gangbe Brass Band starts playing, it's impossible to stay in your seat. The merry sounds of tubas, trumpets and trombones swoop and dart through the air like drunken hummingbirds, while the drums lay down a foundation of percolating percussion that puts heart, soul and feet in motion. The rhythms sound familiar: echoes of Nigeria's juju, Cuba's son and Trinidad's calypso float through the mix. The cheery horn lines bring to mind circuses, carnivals and New Orleans second-line rumba -- it's all a giddy mixture of Africa, Europe and the United States.
As anomalous as the idea of an African brass band may sound to many in the West, Gangbe's music and style has deep roots.
"The French colonials brought horns to Africa more than 100 years ago," says Athanase Dehoumon, the band's bugler, speaking by phone through translator Genevieve Bruyndonckx. The band was in Doische, Belgium, at the headquarters of its European label, Contre-Jour, preparing for the tour that will bring the musicians to the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday. "The fathers of our trombone player and trumpet players were in the French army and learned to play (European marching band) music," Dehoumon says. "Some of the people who learned that style started playing horns at traditional ceremonies and festivals. When we started Gangbe (the translation is "sound of metal"), our first objective was to play jazz music from around the world with acoustic instruments. At the beginning, we played the music of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and, of course, Fela (Anikulapo Kuti, the Afro-beat innovator who combined American soul music with Nigerian rhythms), who we admired for his music and political feelings."
"To support ourselves, we played traditional music for births, weddings and festivals," adds tuba player James Vodounnon. "Little by little we found it was fun to play traditional music with a jazz feeling, and we created our own style."
There are more than 60 ethnicities and musical traditions in Benin, Dehoumon says. "We decided to promote traditional rhythms from Benin because the young people were forgetting the cultural richness of the country. By playing traditional songs and rhythms in a contemporary manner, we hoped to awaken their interest and show the youngsters the richness of our country's music and culture."
Gangbe band members come from all over Benin. "The band became like a village," Vodounnon says. "At the beginning, some of us had more technique than others and brought more ideas to the process of composing and arranging, but today it's a collective with music from all parts of Benin. Some of the rhythms we play come from religious traditions, so we had to get permission from the priests to play them."
One of those religious traditions is vodou, a belief system that's victim to many B-movie misconceptions in the United States (where it's usually spelled "voodoo").
"All religions have a dark side, but vodou isn't about sticking pins in fetishes," Vodounnon says. "As you may guess from my name, I come from a family of vodou priests, and the religion regulates your daily life with its music, culture and practice. Vodou obliges you to be the best you can be in your daily life, to teach your children respect for their elders. It's a very liberal tradition. Since the 15th century in Benin, vodou accepted Catholics, Muslims and other religions. Benin has many religious cultures and there is no problem, because of the vodou influence."
Gangbe's unique sound -- traditional music played with jazz voicings -- has made the band members stars in their homeland. Their subsequent success outside Benin has allowed them to raise the country's international profile and engage in important cultural work back home. They work with the Benin Ministry of Culture and various French folkloric organizations.
Gangbe's current recording, "Whendo" (Roots), continues the band's exploration of Benin's musical diversity. "Johodo" is a driving, dance-inducing tune that sounds a bit like Sunny Ade's juju, based on a similar rhythm from Benin called elezo. "Remember Fela" takes off from a riff from Fela's "Colonial Mentality" to set up a series of cascading trumpet solos as well as Samuel Gnonlonfoun's sharp Fela-influenced sax excursion. "Oblemou" is based on a Yoruba rhythm from Benin that sounds like a cross between calypso and son. The lyrics tell of the plight of a mother abandoned by her faithless spouse.
"The women are happy with that song," Dehoumon says. "The men don't like the (lyrics) but we like to have discussions after a performance and help people open their minds."
"Whendo" also showcases two gorgeous a cappella ballads. "Jesu Ohun" is the kind of spontaneous harmonizing that is common to village life when older people get well oiled on the local brew. It's a song that praises Jesus and communal life with a blend of Christian hymnody and African call and response. "Awhan-Ho" is a protest song that lays blame for society's ills, including war, on the heads of the greedy and power hungry.
"It's the only song not based on a traditional style," Vodounnon says. "It's an important message. We sing it without music because it's something we're saying directly to the listener." 10/30/05 >> go there
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