Centrafrique: Sanza Music in the land of the Gbaya

Wonderfully soothing, consolatory music. I feel that it provides a link to our distant ancestors before they embarked on their journey of discovery around the Globe. -antoniop

Field‑recorded traditional sanza music of the Gbaya people in CAR, by ethnomusicologist Vincent Dehoux. Originally released on CD in 1993 (AIMP XXVII); first-ever vinyl issue in May 2025 by MEG‑AIMP124.

A linchpin of the MEG-AIMP collection, this rare album of sanza music from the Gbaya people of the Central African Republic was recorded by ethnomusicologist Vincent Dehoux and first released on CD in 1993. Now reissued on vinyl and CD to coincide with the Afrosonica: Soundscapes exhibition, it offers a carefully curated selection of "songs for thought." The intimate, introspective tracks are beautifully supported by the repetitive, meditative tones of the lamellaphone - a family of musical instruments that makes its sound by the excitation of a vibrating plate called a lamella - inviting listeners into a pensive soundscape rooted in Central African tradition.

Boomkat Product Review:
Sonic postcards from 1977 in the Central African Republic - bordering Cameroon, DRC and Sudan - documenting rhythmelodic, Gbayan lamellophone and vocal traditions, often replete with rich environmental sounds.

A staple of Geneva’s Museum of Ethnography (MEG-AIMP) catalogue, long out of print since its original 1993 CD release, ‘Central Africa. Sanza Music in the land of the Gbaya’ hails Vincent Dehoux’s recordings of the people who have occupied the Central African Republic since the C.16th. Sharing an intricate, polyrhythmelodic thrust common to Central African musics, the album revolves nine mesmerising, interlocking lamellophone and voice patterns as "songs for thought", ideal for introspection and getting carried away on their warm, elemental breeze. 

One does not need to know the literal translations in order to be transported by the music’s messages, which instrumentally connote meditative moods in succinct passages marrying whistles and chants to lilting thumb piano type phrasing, similar to xylophone or the buzz of a balaphone. In particular the likes of the call-and-response vox and peppery groove to the ‘Bondè ko bé hoyo’ bits really snag attention, as does the faint recall of Konono No.1’s thunder from a distance in ‘Naa-woro’, and blissed effervescence of ‘Naa-koro’.

Front 2025

Back 2025

Front 1993

Centrafrique: Musique Pour Sanza En Pays Gbaya (Central Africa: Sanza Music In The Land Of The Gbaya)

Various Gbaya vocalists (e.g. Etienne Ngbozo, Raymond “Doko”, Arone Singa, etc.)

Label: MEG/Musee D'Ethnographie De Geneve
Format: CD + booklet
Cat: MEG‑AIMP XXVII
Released: 1993 (2025)
Tags: African, Field Recordings, Sanza, African Folk Music, Central African Music
Source: Digital

Au Village De Ndongué
1. Soré Ga Mo 1 (The Tree of Peace) 3:06
2. Soré Ga Mo 2 (The Tree of Peace) 4:48
Au Village De Galo
3. Séam Ko Mè 1 (I Love You) [Mango (I Love You)] 1 4:42
Au Village De Bouar
4. Yaa-Tia 1: Naa-Yanga [Female Given Name] 3:24
Au Village De Ndongué
5. Ndio 1 (The Eagle) 5:54
6. Bondè Ko Bé Hoyo 1 (The Sufferings of the Orphan) 3:51
En Campement De Pêche, En Brousse
7. Bondè Ko Bé Hoyo 2 (The Sufferings of the Orphan) 4:05
Au Village De Galo
8. Séam Ko Mè 2 (I Love You) [Mango (I Love You)] 3:48
Au Village De Ndongué
9. Naa-Woro 1 (Female Given Name) 3:57
10. Yaa-Tia 2: Naa-Yanga/Naa-Woro 2 [Female Given Names] 6:00
11. Naa-Koro 1 (Female Given Name) 6:39
12. Naa-Koro 2 (Female Given Name) 4:28
13. Ndio 2 (The Eagle) 3:59
14. Ndio 3 (The Eagle) 4:01
Au Village De Zaoro Mambéré

15. Soré Ga Mo 3 (The Tree of Peace) 5:00