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Sudan: Music of the Blue Nile Province: The Ingessana and Berta Tribes

Various Artists
Sudan: Music of the Blue Nile Province: The Ingessana and Berta Tribes

These field recordings, made by Robert Gottlieb in November and December 1980, are of the Ingessana and Berta peoples in Sudan’s Blue Nile Province. Though both groups inhabit the same geographical area, they are culturally very different. Berta, the largest tribal group in the region, are an Arabicized culture, as evidenced by their dress, social customs, and musical instruments such as the rebab, a type of fiddle. The recordings on this collection include a 12-waza (gourd trumpet) ensemble of the Madbis clan and a 16-bulhu (end-blown vertical flute) ensemble of the Fagwaji clan.

The Ingessana tribe for the most part did not adapt the Islamic faith of other area tribes and retained their traditional music practices. There are four major groups of Ingessana, each with their own dialect, but only two, the Kuluk and Tabi, are represented in this collection. Bal bamboo flutes and janger, a type of lyre, are common among all Ingessana groups, but the repertoire differs by clan.

Extensive, illustrated liner notes written by Gottlieb accompany the recording. Gottlieb also recorded the music of the Gumuz people on UNES08072 (Sudan: Music of the Blue Nile Province—The Gumuz Tribe).

Track Listing

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101
Ingessana men and women, Meroel village
08:04
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102
Ingessana man with janger (lyre), Meroel village
01:06
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103
Doogus Idris, of Bau village
08:05
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104
Bal (flute) ensemble, Bau village
01:54
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105
Bal (flute) ensemble, Bau village
02:39
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106
Bal (flute) ensemble, Bau village
02:12
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107
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
02:04
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108
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
01:17
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109
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
01:25
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110
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
01:23
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111
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
01:11
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112
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
01:21
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113
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
00:58
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114
Sayid Abdul Rahman and waza ensemble, Madbis clan, Ganis village
01:47
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115
Abdullah Razig Saad and bulhu ensemble, Fagwaji clan, Ganis village
01:22
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116
Abdullah Razig Saad and bulhu ensemble, Fagwaji clan, Ganis village
03:37
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117
Abdullah Razig Saad and bulhu ensemble, Fagwaji clan, Ganis village
00:31
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118
Abdullah Razig Saad and bulhu ensemble, Fagwaji clan, Ganis village
03:30
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119
Abdullah Razig Saad and bulhu ensemble, Fagwaji clan, Ganis village
03:05