{"id":60475,"date":"2020-09-29T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/flutes-souffle-de-vie-des-afriques\/"},"modified":"2022-08-02T17:34:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T15:34:02","slug":"flutes-african-breath-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/flutes-african-breath-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The flute, Africa’s breath of life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whatever its shape, the flute stands firmly rooted in most African music. This is an insight into the role of the instrument, with a focus on the musicians who made it famous and those who place it in the spotlight today.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The n\u2019dehou<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Cameroonian citizen Francis Bebey<\/a> who passed away in 2001, began his professional career as a radio journalist and diplomat before dedicating the rest of his life to music \u2013 he even went on to receive a resounding popularity in the 1970s with humorous songs such as “La Condition Masculine” [a French expression for “the male condition”, ironically mirroring contemporary concerns of “the female condition”; translator’s note]. The son of a pastor based in Douala, Bebey grew up listening to Bach and Beethoven, classical guitar, jazz music which he introduced to Manu Dibango<\/a>, as well as the natural rhythms of the rain, the sanza<\/em> \u2013 his favoured instrument \u2013 and Pygmy music which his father had forbid him from listening to. It was however from the Pygmies that Francis learned how to play the n\u2019dehou<\/em>, a bamboo pocket flute that created bird-like sounds, which the musician performs with in a call-and-response improvisation accompanied by the unique highly-pitched vocals of the Pygmies. “Just because they live in the forest does not mean they are uncivilized people,”<\/em> he said. “On the contrary, they are highly intelligent people. They invented this amazing musical technique where they can hold conversations with their own instrument.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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