Howdy folks, and welcome to Continental Drift! The program before ours is Sub-Saharan Vibes, but in this episode we’re bringing you some sub-Saharan vibes of our own, because this episode is about Benin! You can find the playlist here and listen back to the episode here!

The Republic of Benin is a West African country bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the northwest, and Niger to the northeast. Its southern boundary is formed by the Bight of Benin, which is part of the Gulf of Guinea. Its capital is Porto-Novo, and with a population of around 12,600,000 people, it ranks 78th in terms of population. The official language is French, but dozens of other languages are spoken throughout the country by various demographics.

This first segment is part of the musical tradition called Tchinkoumé. Pay attention to the almost metallic-sounding percussion you hear throughout the first track; tchinkoumé is characterized by its use of water drums, essentially vessels partially filled with water which are then used as percussion instruments. Tchinkoumé is endemic to Benin, and over the years it’s been adapted in a number of ways to include different types of instrumentation, notably by Stan Tohon, founder of the derivative genre called tchink-system.

Tchinkoumé Segment

Behanzin Condo // Gbofan Ernest Kinhouande

Africa // Stan Tohon

Mi Tchinker // Stan Tohon

Now, if you’ve ever seen voodoo in the movies, your mental image is probably of the dark magic with dolls linked to your body. As it would happen, nothing could be further from the truth! Voodoo is an Afro-diasporic religion endemic to Louisiana, and it’s a derivative of the spiritualistic religion in Benin known as Vodun (pronounced kinda like vo-DEUH, with a sort of nasal inflection on the U), which venerates several spirits also known as vodun. 

In Vodun and its descendants, there are often particular drum patterns associated with specific deities or religious functions, and some artists, like Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, incorporate them into their music. Ultimately musicians began to experiment with traditional Vodun drum patterns in more modern music, such as jazz and the emergent genre from Nigeria known as afrobeat, so the next several tracks will either just be Vodun drums or they’ll at least incorporate Vodun drum patterns.

Vodun+ Segment

Polyrhythmie pour Hevioso // Benin vodun

Houe Djein Nada // Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou

A Min We Vo Nou We // Les Sympathics de Porto Novo

Vinon So Minsou // Ouinsou Corneille, Black Santiago

Nikki // Gangbé Brass Band

Gospel Segment

Gospel music in Africa originated from spiritual hymns sung by enslaved people who hoped for freedom/emancipation. It’s characterized by strong harmonies, Christian lyrics, and often call-and-response performances. Call-and-response songs were often used during the slave era in Africa because they ensured that slaves were able to sing during church services, but still prevented them from reading or becoming educated. 

Up next, we have some Beninese gospel songs, namely Osama-Mwen (performed by Mr. and Mrs. K Iyamu) which celebrates God’s presence and divine intervention, and his ability to transform lives. It’s sung in the Edo language which originates from the Edo State in Nigeria.

Osama-Mwen // Mr. and Mrs. K Iyamu

Last 2 Songs Because We Can

Y’all honestly these sounded cool and Kirby wasn’t sure where to put ‘em.

First up, we have Electric Love by Nasty Nesta, a Beninese hip hop artist, and then from the American artist Morgan Greenstreet, we have this sick remix of Behanzin Condo (the first song we played tonight) called Behanzin Bounce, which fuses tchinkoumé with the Louisiana-endemic hip-hop subgenre called bounce.

Electric Love // Nasty Nesta

Behanzin Bounce // Morgan Greenstreet