Field recordings made by geographical researcher Ben Juday on his trip to the Ivory Coast in March 2000 inspired the work - parts of which are incorporated into the piece. The music primarily originates from a Senufo funeral ceremony. The senufo are a tribe in the northern portion of the Ivory Coast of Africa. The funeral ceremony takes place over several days. Music is played constantly on balafons, doso n'goni, and the percussive, metallic scraping of the caragnan. The ceremony is as much a celebration as mourning - homemade guns are fired into the air, and goats are slaughtered for feasting.
collaborators: Ben Juday (field recordings)
format: mp3/5.1 surround
duration: 5:09
exhibitions:
2006 Electronic Music Midwest, Lewis University Romeoville, IL
2005 SEAMUS Conference, Ball State University, IN
Photograph: Timothy Campbell