GUINEA • KPELLE MUSIC

The Kpelle are a forest people scattered in an area which covers parts of Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Liberia. They have developped a sophisticated musical art. The more complicated the polyphonic structure, the more the music is appreciated. This tendancy for sophistication is to be found in vocal music as well as instrumental performance, especially in their polyphonies and polyrhythmies. Their vocal polyphonies led by an inspired soloist, their trumpets played in hocket, their pieces for percussions take part in the pêle, a global ritual in which the whole society commits itself in performance.