horn honking music from Ghana
The other day a friend of mine, knowing my predilection for African music, gave me a great Smithsonian Folkways disc called Por Por: Honk Horn Music from Ghana by a group called the La Drivers Union Por Por Group.
Using squeeze bulb horns–like car and bicycle horns you’d see in old-time movies–tire rims, drums, other percussion and their voices, the La Drivers Union makes por por music, a type apparently unique to them and perform it almost solely at funerals of drivers in that union (which, I learned from the comprehensive liner notes, often feature caskets that are made to look like the trotros these drivers drive).
George Gershwin, in an American in Paris, used a horn to indicate the traffic and hustle. The way he used it is almost cute, though: a couple honks within a significant piece. One could imagine that it was appropriate to 1930s Paris, though.
In the same way, one can imagine that the constant and overlapping use of horn in this por por music could be appropriate to current day Accra. It’s a din of horns, rhythmic and overlapping with some lines constant and some weaving in and out. Add in to that call-and-response vocals, percussion on all sorts of things like tire rims and traditional drums and you have music that’s both melodic and heavily polyrhythmic.
The LA Drivers Union Por Por Group - Otsokobila (mp3s)
When I heard about this CD, I thought, “Wow, that’ll be cool.” I feel like one could just let the idea of the music trump the actual music. Having listened to it a few times, though, I have to say that listening to this music is just as cool as the idea of it.
You can get this album from Smithsonian Folkway.
