Mende song

Ethnomusicological sound recording made by Cootje van Oven. Mende traditional song accompanied by three shegbureh. The meaning of the song is: "A husband and wife are estranged. She goes to her mother's home. The husband asks her to send him a present of rice flour". The performers and instruments can be seen in the photograph. The largest shegbureh has red and blue beads, the other two have shells and buttons. The shegbureh, apparently always played by women, is a stalked gourd surrounded by a network of beads, buttons or shells on strings. The end of the strings is held in one hand, the stalk of the gourd in the other. Rhythmic movements of the gourd produce the desired rattle of the beads etc. against the gourd. The people in Zimmi are Gola on the whole, but the spoken language there is Mende. The three shegbureh players of this item sang some songs in Vai. Tribe of Hawa Sheriff and language of this song may not be quite certain.

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Further Information

• Type: Sound Recording, Musical instruments
• Object: Mende song
• Materials: No Data / Other
• Culture Group: Mende, Gola
• Dimensions: No Data
• Production Date: 1966.12.23
• Associated Places: Zimmi, Makpele Chiefdom, Pujehun District [Place Recorded] [Origin of item]
• Associated People: Cootje van Oven [Sound Recordist]; Herb Clark [Sound Recordist]; Bessie Kohma [Shegbureh]; Amahtu [Shegbureh]; Hara Sehmula [Shegbureh]; Howa Sheriff [Singer and dancer]
• Museum: Cootje Van Oven Collection
• Accession Number: CVO:286

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