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Famo Mountain
The group features the accordion along several drummers and singers, but also makes room for the thomo, a one-stringed gourd instrument that is undoubtedly the predecessor of the Brazilian berimbau. Yet, the reason for this recording dates to news reports of violence among gangs who see the accordion-based spontaneous rap as a weapon. A shooting death in 2004 between two rival musicians started this continuing cycle of violence in a country with an already exceedingly high crime rate. Much like Chicago Drill’s connection to gang violence in a city whose increasing unaffordability due to gentrification has continued to segregate groups along racial and economic lines, the Famo Wars have pitted musicians into warring camps. So, a country of 2 million with some of the most breathtaking landscape on the planet finds distinct, often opposing groups using music based on an instrument German colonizers introduced to the region over a century ago to speak about injustice. And the song titles here reflect this: “The Government Neglects Our Region,” “I Refuse to Join a Gang,” or “Prayer for Peace” all bear this out. But the music itself is what makes Famo Mountain so powerful. The album’s opening track, the aforementioned “The Government…”, establishes a mean, low-end repeated accordion riff typical of the region as drummers crash in and the rasp of lead singer Tebotho rattles off a list of issues in a sing-speak this region of Africa perfected long before the advent of recording equipment. This is organic, head-nodding rap made with the most natural musical ingredients available.
There’s a nearly-solo track played and sung by accordionist Monts’I Monts’I where he see-saws on the squashbox and laments his wife’s need to travel to South Africa for work, Tebotho’s low rumbling voice occasionally appearing for dramatic emphasis. Later in the collection, special guest Loape and her thomo appear for a lullaby titled “Putting the Baby to Sleep.” It’s one of several brief, meditative interludes between the heavier, drum and accordion-driven tracks. Currently only available digitally, this music begs for a physical release. But however you hear it, you don’t need to know anything about the album’s circumstances to be immersed in its authority.
Further listening:
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Producer and audio documentarian Ian Brennan has spent years recording music with the purpose of bringing attention to groups of people deep in various societies’ margins. Tanzanians with albinism placed for the their own safety on an island in Lake Victoria, Malawians stuck in the notorious Zomba prison, women in Ghana accused of witchcraft, threatened pygmy tribes in Rwanda, survivors of Cambodia’s genocide or America’s war in Vietnam have all been documented on a variety of releases. While there are collections where non-musicians were given the opportunity to create sounds and lyrics, just as often, the subjects of these collections were already seasoned players. Such is the case with Famo Mountain’s For Those Left Behind, recorded in the Lesotho highlands. Lesotho, a rugged, often cold country entirely surrounded by South Africa, not surprisingly shares some sonic connections to its only neighbor. In fact, South Africa’s concertina-aka squashbox- traditions have been well documented on a number of releases, so it’s not surprising that some form of the instrument would also exist in Lesotho, and is often at the heart of Famo Mountain’s music.
