Mbenga-Mbuti Music

Mbenga-Mbuti music is the traditional music of the Mbuti and related Mbenga-speaking forest peoples of the Congo Basin, among the most extensively documented of all African hunting-and-gathering musical cultures. Its core is communal singing: large groups weave short melodic phrases into dense polyphony through yodeling, hocketing and interlocking call-and-response, accompanied by handclapping, sticks and simple instruments such as flutes, harps and likembe. Songs accompany hunting, honey gathering, initiation and storytelling, and the repertory recorded by ethnographers such as *Colin Turnbull* and *Simha Arom* — including the celebrated molimo ceremonies — has influenced composers and listeners far beyond the Ituri and Sangha forests.