MUSIC-BENIN: Funeral Music Becomes National Rhythm

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Michee Boko

COTONOU, Oct 27 1998 (IPS) - Benin, renowned throughout the world for its bronze statues, curiously has suffered a culture gap in that there is no national dance movement in the west African nation.

All that is changing thanks to Tohan Stan, a local musician who has filled the gap by taking a rhythm traditionally played at funerals, revamping it and adding a few modern notes.

Stan, who comes from the town of Savalou, some 300 kms north of Cononou, has adapted the the traditional “Tchinkounmin” funeral music into a dance music he calls the “Tchink System.”

“Originally, the Tchinkounmin used to be played only at funerals,” says Ahissou, an elder from Savalou. “When you heard the sound of that music in the village, it was a sign of misfortune. It meant bad news.”

It is played with a large gourd whose opening is tapped with an animal skin cut in the shape of a fan, two calabashes upturned in buckets of water and beaten with sticks, and a bell, castagnettes and drums.

Tohon Stan made some technical readjustments to the rhythm before it became the Tchink System that put him and his country onto the world music map.

“I took the Tchinkounmin as it is played in our villages, with the traditional instruments,” he says. “I added Western instruments such as guitars, the saxophone and the violin, and I came up with a music that’s more refined and better crafted than the Tchinkounmin, which I call the Tchink System.”

To achieve this, he had to work hard at it. “When I left school in 1978 to devote myself to music, I wanted to have my own rhythm,” he explains, “so I went to stay for a year in Savalou, the birthplace of the Tchinkounmin, to learn and get to know this music.”

Today, the Tchink System is considered the only Beninois music that comes from a mix of traditional and modern instruments. It is not yet the national music but, in the absence of a rhythm that bears that title, it plays that role in a country where the influence of foreign music is very strong.

The Tchinkounmin is a very vigorous dance in which the entire body moves – women are advised not to try it in the early stages of pregnancy.

“The Tchink System is lucky in that it does not resemble any other music at the international level. It’s unique,” says Jolidon Lafia, a music teacher at the French Cultural Centre in Cotonou. “The instruments with which it is played make it different from any other music and give it its particularity.”

“It’s a polyrhythmic music,” adds Jolidon. “You find funk, reggae and jazz sounds in it. If we could exploit that, the Tchnik System could enjoy worldwide success, like Soukous or M’balak. However, he thinks that the rhythm has to be finetuned, just as Senegal’s Youssou Ndour improved the M’balak and Congolese musicians worked on their Soukous.

Jean Vodounon, another music teacher, agrees, but he argues that “Tohon Stan alone cannot develop the Tchink System”. He thinks the artiste has already brought the rhythm to a certain level of development and other artistes or researchers need to take over and support him.

However, Tohon Stan has been fairly successful outside the country. “I think foreigners love the Tchink System because it’s new for them. They’ve never seen people dancing with their entire bodies before. They don’t see that at home. It suddenly catches hold of them and sometimes before they even realise it they are imitating the dancers’ gestures.”

The music may be appreciated but not everyone is enthusiastic about its creator. “Tohon Stan always has ugly hairstyles,” says Anne, a student. “Sometimes he has a tuft of hair in the middle of his head and that makes him look ugly.” Some think he is too fat. Others do not like his non-conformist clothes, but most agree that his music does honour to Benin.

Does that mean it’s played just about everywhere? Not really, in the nightclubs, ‘maquis’ (local restaurants) and bars here, you stand a better chance of hearing the latest Congolese rhythm, called the Ndombolo, or Salsa or Zouk, a rhythm that originated in the French West Indies. (ENG/IPS/mb/nrn/kb/98).