Baka Beyond
Martin Cradick, guitarist from Outback, moves on to concentrate more on producing a fusion of Baka traditional music with Breton and Scottish traditional music to make some outstanding albums. Spirit of the Forest is a collaboration with the Baka people. The Meeting Pool is a combination of field recordings with studio music in a similar vein to Deep Forest. Journey Between moves on from this to be more studio oriented.
CD: Spirit of the Forest
[HNCD1377]
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Released 1993 on Hannibal Records. Produced by Martin Cradick. All songs written by Martin Cradick except tracks 2,6,7 & 8, written by Martin Cradick and The Baka Forest People. Recorded in the forest of Sotheast Cameroon, Jan-Feb 1992, and at March Hare Studios, Jan-Feb 1993. At the beginning of 1992 Martin Cradick and his wife Su Hart lived with the Baka Pygmies deep in the forest near the Cameroon/Congo border. The only trappings of modern "civilisation" they had with them were a tent, drawing and recording equipment, a camera, a guitar and a mandolin. The spent much of each day playing music with the Baka and recording their music. This album is a mixture of the music written in the forest with the Baka, versions of songs that the Baka sang and music written since returning, inspired by the music from the forest.
Album: The Meeting Pool
[HNCD 1288]
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Released 1995 on Rykomusic. The following text is edited from the inner sleeve of this CD. Woosi is a song about the Baka woman (woosi) gathering food and visiting camps. Su and Martin learned it when they returned to visit their Baka friends in South East Cameroon in February 1994. Their song ends with Paddy's 'cheetah's reel'. Ancestor's Voice: The backing was written by Martin for a different song that we decided not to use. Su and Kate used this backing for these vocals, using some of the original words translated into Swahili. The song ends with Né-né and Nahwia water drumming - slapping the surface of the river Lupé whilst bathing (no other drums are involved in this part). Lupé: The Lupé is the river in the rainforest of the South East Cameroon by which Su and Martin lived with the Baka. This is based on a song jammed in the forest by the river on their first visit. Ohureo is based on a traditional Gaelic song from the Western Isles of Scotland. The children in this lullaby are being mistreated by their step mother, so their real mother returns form the dead on their behalf! Meeting of the Tribes: The Baka drumming is from a dance called Bwambwa. Sagar has added a Wollof rhythm from South Senegal to this. In fitting an old Cornish tune to this rhythm the melody transformed into a more Eastern sound, enhanced by the dzourna, a Turkish chanter. The underlying didgeridoo makes this a meeting of tribes, north, south, east and west. Journey: This tune evolved from an improvision over Sagar's serruba rhythm from a marriage ceremony played on a djembe and a sabar which he originally played around the rhythm of Sangowé's Limindi (track 12, Heart of the Forest HNCD 1378). Hdaweh's Dream: Martin is playing a tune on the ngombi (forest harp) taught to him by Bounaka, elder of the family group where Su and Martin stayed in the forest. Bounaka made this ngombi as a gift for Martin. Ndaweh is Bounaka's wife. Booma Lena, originally released as a white label 12" single, this piece is based on 'Nursery Rhyme' on 'Heart of the Forest (HNCD 1378). Booma Lena means 'my heart is happy'.
Other Info:
For further information on Baka Beyond see their Official Web Site .
