Tchinkoumé

Tchinkoumé is a funeral music tradition of the Fon and Mahi peoples of central Benin, centered on the region around Savalou. Its defining sound is water percussion: calabash halves floated in basins of water and struck to produce deep, resonant tones, combined with hand drums, bells and communal singing that honors the dead and accompanies mourning rites. Sung in Fon and related languages, its songs carry praise, genealogy and social commentary for the deceased. Long confined to village ceremonies, the tradition reached national audiences when *Stan Tohon* recast its rhythms as the popular tchink system in the 1980s.