Kuimba: Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)

The Wambuti or Forest People, have lived in the Ituri since time immemorial. When they and their habitat are left undisturbed they wander in search of whatever their basic necessities might be, singing as they go. They own nothing and yet they are some of the happiest people. Their lifestyle is such that they never upset the natural balance of the forest which accounts for their having survived there these many thousands of years. From accounts of two early European visitors to Africa we learn that the Wambuti, before the coming of Europeans, included in their oral tradition the story of the Garden of Eden; however, to the Wambuti, humanity’s expulsion from the Garden did not occurr as a tragedy. In The Hero With An African Face contemporary author Clyde W. Ford writes, “…the elegant reason given for the Mbuti’s joyous attitude toward God’s removal from his creation is that with this separation human consciousness has the necessary distance to behold the beautific vision everywhere — much as we might back away from a masterpiece of art to appreciate fully the radiance it unleashes.” For the Wambuti (as for possibly all African tribes) singing and dancing is part of everyday life. This is a song they sang for us early one morning when we visited them. It’s a song which is usually performed as preparation for the hunt of a very large animal, like say, an Elephant. This is a clip from the twelve minute recording.