Hunting records in Africa

January 11, 2015
A warehouse full of records in Enugu, Nigeria. Image courtesy of Voodoofunk.
A warehouse full of records in Enugu, Nigeria. Image courtesy of Voodoofunk.

In case you are – as me – interested in African music from the 60s and 70s, Voodoofunk is a great blog which documents the travels of a vinyl junkie through West Africa on his hunt for records. One time in Benin he went to see a local diviner to ask for support for his quest, see the short documentary below.

I went to see a Vodun priest in a village near Grand Popo in coastal South West Benin where I was invited inside the shrine to bring a sacrifice to the fetish and to ask for support on my quest to find local records. I sacrificed a chicken and Vodun Agbo agreed to give us his support as we were assured by the priest who had consulted the Fa for us: A kola nut was split in four pieces and thrown onto a plate after asking a question to the Vodun. The Vodun then answers with certain different combinations of how the pieces of kola nut come to rest. As a reminder, we left a Poly Rythmo 45 in the shrine.

http://youtu.be/vo1AtwId6cA

About the author

Bruno Claessens

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