Grammy award-winning producer/author Ian Brennan presents riveting recordings of traditional song by Namibia’s Himba for an album exemplary of Sublime Frequencies’ incredible library of sounds lesser-heard beyond their locale…

‘Ghosts of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast’ plunges listeners in the midst of tribal traditions in northern Namibia’s mostly arid Skeleton Coast, on the border with Angola. The only instruments heard are unnamed strings (a sort of lyre?) and the Cattle Gun, a mud-coated Onyx horn blown to produce a raspy rattle, while the voices produce a remarkable range, from frankly unimaginable, growled invocations, to chants and one piece of soul-slapping bloozy holler that unmistakably highlights historic Black Atlantic links. For us pasty UK office dwellers it’s astonishing, life-affirming stuff: plunging into timeless traditions on ‘Lion Attack, Cattle Massacre’ with a range of extended vocal tekkerz that give Phil Minton a run for his pennies, thru an air-horn strewn, multi-tracked, psychedelic tapestry in ‘Be Brave in the Face of Death’, to harmonised chants on the lament ‘Don’t Cry (Your Father & Grandfather Are Good)’ that gives us the most acute frisson, and an unmissable bit of gut-punch bluesy holler in ‘Please Help Me’. Don’t think twice if you know what’s good.

“The Namib desert is the oldest in the world. Therefore, the driest. Italian-Rwandan photographer, Marilena Umuhoza Delli and I had come to record with possibly the most photographed people on earth, the Himba— to listen rather than gaze at them as if on display. To share their voices as a counter to their visual objectification, particularly the inappropriate eroticization of the women who customarily go topless throughout daily life.

We had to stress multiple times that we did not want the musicians to don touristic tribal costumes— quite possibly the first music project in history that urged performers to cover-up rather than pleading with artists to expose more flesh. But it was to no avail. When the assigned hour arrived, the men all ditched the baseball caps and soccer jerseys that they routinely wear. And for the women, the reality is that they almost without exception keep their torsos bare, even in winter. We had to acquiesce. Forcing the issue would have only been the flipside of inauthenticity. The featured, traditional instrument is the Cattle Gun. It’s rarely found these days and therefore, costly. Made from the lengthy horn of an Oryx and coated in mud, it is blown, resulting in a breathy, rattled tone. Via the use of live looping on three of the album’s tracks, psychedelic vocal tapestries were created as if snatched from the ever-shifting skies that enshrined the valley from all sides. But even more esoteric results arose from members cupping hands over mouth to create chorusing and flanging effects sans electricity or gear. Rather than “primitive” or traditional, the Himba music making is imbued with innovation and timelessness.”

Tracklist:
1-1. HIMBA HYMN – Lion Attack, Cattle Massacre (07:37)
1-2. HIMBA HYMN – Be Brave in the Face of Death (04:55)
1-3. HIMBA HYMN – Bless Your Ancestors for Being Born (01:12)
1-4. HIMBA HYMN – Don’t Cry (Your Father & Grandfather Are Good) (02:28)
1-5. HIMBA HYMN – Friends Who’ve Passed (04:05)
1-6. HIMBA HYMN – Over There Is Me (01:11)
1-7. HIMBA HYMN – Who Is Going to Welcome the White People? (03:56)
1-8. HIMBA HYMN – Calling Our Ancestors from Across the Plains (00:38)
1-9. HIMBA HYMN – Please Help Me (02:32)
1-10. HIMBA HYMN – The Boers Do Not Have Mercy (They Kill, They Kill, They Kill!!!) (00:52)

Download:

https://xubster.com/0cdsaxho9g2x/HIMBAHYMNGh0sts0fNamibiasSkelet0nC0ast20262496.rar.html

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