Search results for ""Author Beth G. Raps""
The University of Chicago Press Genii of the River Niger
The river Niger, a source of life and danger for the people in impoverished eastern Mali, is also the origin of elaborate mythology. From his travels through Mali and down the Niger in a dugout canoe, Jean-Marie Gibbal has created a personal documentary of the cultures of the region. The result is at once an ethnography of cultures in crisis and a evocation of the environment and people he encountered. Gibbal portrays the river as the dominant, cohesive force among people in the face of social and environmental strife. He focuses on the Ghimbala healing cult, which centres on the river, and how the cult structures social relations in the region. Gibbal relates the Ghimbala rites, nocturnal ceremonies of spirit possession and seance which animate the water spirits, or genii, that inhabit the river. The genii, he finds, provide the strength of social identity in a world where famine and competing versions of Islam threaten to overpower traditional culture. In its original French publication, "Genii of the River Niger" was honoured with an Alexandra David-Neel literary prize in 1989.
£30.59
The University of Chicago Press Three Kilos of Coffee: An Autobiography
In 1948, at the age of 15, Manu Dibango left Africa for France, bearing three kilos of coffee for his adopted family and little else. This book chronicles Manu Dibango's remarkable rise from his birth in Douala, Cameroon, to his worldwide success - with "Soul Makossa" in 1972 - as the first African musician ever to record a Top 40 hit. Composer, producer, performer, film-score writer and humanitarian for the poor, Manu Dibango defines the "African sound" of modern world music. He has worked with and influenced such artists as Art Blakey, Don Cherry, Herbie Hancock, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon and Johnny Clegg. In Africa, he has helped younger musicians, performed benefit concerts and transcribed for the first time the scores and lyrics of African musicians. The product of a "mixed marriage" (of different tribes and religions) who owes allegiances to both Africa and Europe, Dibango has always been aware of the ambiguities of his identity. This awareness has informed all of the important events of his life, from his marriage to a white French woman in 1957, to his creation of an "Afro-music" which blends blues, jazz, reggae, traditional European and African serenades, highlife, Caribbean and Arabic music. This music addresses the meaning of "Africanness" and what it means to be a Black artist and citizen of the world. This memoir is based on an extensive set of interviews in 1989 with French journalist Danielle Rouard. Illustrated with photographs, this book should be of interest to readers of jazz biographies, students of African music and ethnomusicology, and all those who are lovers of Manu Dibango's artistry and accomplishments.
£22.43
