Missa Luba

We had a record of this in the house when I was growing up.  I can ' t remember what I knew about it - maybe that it was from Africa, but maybe not which country.  (I realise now that " from Africa " is not a meaningful description any more than describingpibroch orcerdd dant as " from Europe " would be).  We had a lot of folk music in the house, so perhaps I saw it as folk music.  And perhaps there is truth in that.I now have that same record in my house.  The front of the record sleeve is shown above.It is on Spotify, and most of it is inThe Planet ' s Greatest African Music volume 2, dated 2013.Missa Luba is a setting of the Christian Roman Catholic mass, sung in Latin (the Kyrie is, as usual, in Greek).  The sleeve note describes it as " pure Congolese " and " completely void of any modern, western musical influences " .  The sleeve gives more details of the musical forms used, the kasala, a " Song of Farewell " in Kiluba.  A Kasai dance rhythm is used for the Hosanna, and a song of Bena Lulua is used for the Agnus Dei.  The note records that none of the Missa Luba is written down, and that " certain rhythms, harmonies and embellishments "  are spontaneous improvisations.Father Guido Haazen, a Belgian Catholic priest recognised " the value to be gained from the retention of this music form " , and formed a choir, called Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin.  This choir recorded the Missa Luba in 1958 an...
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