Haiti
Music of the Carnival and the Konè

Carnivals in Haiti are mobile, expressive festivals of sound, similar to street theatre. This is a time of letting go, and everyone is invited to take part in the celebration. Carnivals often mark the end of winter and celebrate the return of life. In Haiti, the carnival known as rara is celebrated in February, and coincides with Mardi Gras. It was originally a peasant carnival, and its festivities correspond, in this agricultural society, to the celebration of spring. This carnival is also tied to Christianity's most holy week, and certain religious elements can still be observed. The carnival is pure entertainment, filled with imitations of well-known characters and personalities and elaborate homemade costumes - combining to create a scene that is at once a satire of social, political and economic life. Celebrants perform a variety of dances, accompanied by drums, horns made of metal and bamboo, brass instruments, whistles and various percussion instruments.

Burkina Faso
The Language of the Bendré Drum
Cultural Group: Moaga

The bendré drum is made from a large hollowed-out calabash, which is cut off at the top and re-covered with animal skin that is secured with strips of leather. A leather cover protects the skin, the centre of which is coated with a resinous material. The calabash drum is the ultimate aristocratic instrument, reserved for the court of the emperor and his provincial chiefs. It is charged with evoking the highlights of dynasties and the virtues of the Moaga people, and reminds the chief that he must be impartial, modest and courageous.

This instrument is possessed only by the benda - a brotherhood of musicians who play the bendré. Their mission, from time immemorial, has been to punctuate and illustrate all official acts of the court. The drum is thus used to establish communications or to transmit messages. The language can be secret, reserved strictly for a group of persons who know the formulas. To learn the language, one must belong to the benda caste and be initiated, because these skills are transmitted only from father to son. From a young age, a child will learn simple formulas, which are practiced and tested when the child plays in public on marching days. These formulas respect the tone of the language and the rhythm of words and phrases.

Vietnam
Music of the Sixteen-String Sitar

There are many types of music in Vietnam. That of the majority kinh or Viet people is currently rebounding in popularity after several years. This music is tied to daily activities, to different stages of life, to rural and seasonal celebrations, to the intimacy of the home, and to funerary ceremonies (rites).

In Hué, chamber music and the songs of boatmen are very popular. They accompany boat processions on the Perfume River, and orchestras and court ballets frequently give waterborne performances for tourists.

The renewal currently being enjoyed by traditional Vietnamese music is the result of several years of initiative and devotion by certain young masters. Musical genres on their way to extinction have been given a second wind, and traditional music has begun, bit by bit, to regain the place it lost as a result of war and subsequent bans against it.

( Dan tranh )
The dan tranh is a sixteen-string sitar, stretched over sixteen mobile bridges. The musician plucks the strings in the section of the instrument between the tuning pegs and the movable bridges with the fingernails of the thumb and index finger of the right hand, or with picks made of tortoiseshell. The left hand puts pressure on the strings to vary the tension, which modifies pitch. This results in a rich musical ornamentation. Women ar the traditional masters of this instrument.