The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #99389   Message #2240571
Posted By: Azizi
20-Jan-08 - 10:28 AM
Thread Name: African Folk Songs
Subject: RE: African Folk Songs
This link to a YouTube video doesn't feature a song, but instead is clip of a new Ghanaian music tradition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTAOzbqpaiQ
La Drivers Union Por Por Group perform "M.V. Labadi"

-snip-

See this statement that was written about the video:

"Por por (pronounced paaw paaw) is the name of honking, squeeze-bulb horn music which is unique to the La Drivers Union of Ghana, and which is principally performed at union drivers' funerals. Por por music is played with truck horns, tire pumps, and other everyday objects a truck driver uses. The sound is rooted in Ghanaian tradition and a broad range of musical influences from New Orleans jazz to Highlife. The song performed here honors and praises past drivers. The group then breaks into a jam session. The performance was filmed in Accra, Ghana, during ethnomusicologist Steven Feld's 2006 recording session for Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana, which can be found at www.smithsonianglobalsound.org"

**

Here's another video of the La Drivers Union of Ghana:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW8QDOy_J-s&feature=related

"Ethnomusicologist Steven Feld travels to Accra, Ghana's capital and largest city, to record the unique honk horn music of truck drivers in the La Drivers Union Por Por Group"