Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases videos of Benin, West Africa's Anice Pépé.
Unfortunately, I've not been able to find much information about Anice Pépé except that he is a Beninese traditional singer. I'd love to know more about this artist and about the videos that are featured below. What language does Anice Pépé sing in?
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
Thanks to Anice Pépé for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all the musicians and dancers who performed in these featured videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these featured videos.
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FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube with the oldest dated videos given first.
Example #1 Anice pépé - Nayé
BENIN CHANNEL Uploaded on Aug 30, 2009
Benin Musique
-snip-
My guess is that this video is about the difficulties involved with being a mother. What does "Nayé" mean?
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Example #2: BENIN MUSIC ANICE PEPE: MEDJOME
HERVAKOMDJ Uploaded on Oct 11, 2009
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Example #3: Benin-Anice Pepe : we non ko
HERVAKOMDJUploaded on Oct 11, 2009
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Example #4: BENIN Anice pépé - SOUROU-
chegundossi, Uploaded on Sep 16, 2010
Sourou (du calme,patience).Dans la vie il faut de la patience,du calme en toute chose
-snip-
Google Translate from French to English - Sourou (calm, patience) .In life it takes patience, calmness in everything
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Example #5: Anice Pépé - Mi Kpo Do Yovo Si.DAT
Thomas Euloge Koudogbo Uploaded on Sep 2, 2011
Encore une vérité sur nos indépendances cha-cha comme dirait l'autre
Google Translate from French to English: Another truth about our independence cha looks like another
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Example #6: Anice Pépé - Mi Djo Pépé Do.DAT
Thomas Euloge Koudogbo Uploaded on Sep 3, 2011
Anice Pépé dans sa version de "Laissez parler les gens"
Google Translate from French to English: Anice Pepe in his version of "Let the people speak"
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Example #7: PRD UV2013 ANICE PEPE chanson
Conforte AVO Published on Nov 4, 2013
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There's a bit about him on a French site, www.jolome.com. He comes from a village called Hetin, in Dangbo commune, and formed his first group in 1985 after finishing school. He has had some formal training but traditional instruments and culture are his real inspiration. I can't follow all the French but he either formed or worked with a group called 'Joliba', which seems to be the African name for the Niger river.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that, slam2011.
DeleteSpecial thanks for posting information about jalome.com. I googled it and visited this link (reading its English translation which is a feature that site has) http://www.jolome.com/dir/news/ Its description is "The plurality of information Jalome News All Benin On The Web."
Jalome reminds me of Yahoo.com and Breaking News.com. Its description indicates that it provides news from 30 different newspapers. This news is divided into a number of categories such as culture, politics, education, economy, and "Africa".
I'm not sure if Jolome is a French site meaning from France or if it is from Benin itself. Having found this site (which also has a search feature), I wonder if other African nations have such a news portal, and if so, how would such a site be found?
The first category I clicked on was "culture" [of course!] There's a review about a movie called "The Middle Passage" that is described as "pathetic". But reading that I wonder if the translator meant "very sad" and "not very bad (horrible) which Americans mean when we use the word "pathetic".
I also click on this page in the"Africa" category http://www.jolome.com/dir/article.php?i=108409&t=direct Ten things you do not know the origin of the names of African countries
Author: Source: Jeune Afrique - Le Matinal - Original article . Indexed 14 Oct. 2014in Africa .
I've "favorited" that site and that article.
Thanks again for that information about Anice Pépé.
P.S."
The English translation for "pepe" is "grandfather". I wonder if that is really that vocalist's last name, or if that was a stage name that was given to him or that he chose.
Seems these days I'm better at finding stuff than remembering where I found it:) Somewhere out there on the net is a French review of his album ( from 2008?) 'Sourou'. Among other stuff it mentioned his name was Anicet Marcel... Houessou, or Heoussou, I can't remember the right spelling. And it said 'Sourou' means 'patience' or calmness, - inner peace I guess. Nice title.
ReplyDelete"Seems these days I'm better at finding stuff than remembering where I found it:) "
DeleteYeah, I can identify with that.
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"'Sourou' means 'patience' or calmness..."
What language is this? Fon?
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I read a comment on one of Anice Pepe's video's discussion thread which said something like "I wish that the lyrics to this song were included". I agree. If not the lyrics I wish that the title was translated into English or French *and the publisher of the video or sound file would give a brief summation of the video so that people who don't speak the language the singer/s uses would have a sense of what the song is about .
*English or French or some language that Google translate has. Note that Google Translate has very few traditional African languages, which is a real shame.
Afraid I don't know which language. I looked on the net and it seems 'Sourou' can be a surname or a first name (male), e.g. Sourou Migan Apithy, former Premier of Dahomey (Benin). He apparently was born in a mainly Yoruba area, so perhaps it's a Yoruba word? One thing leads to another on the net eh?
ReplyDeleteYes it's Yoruba! This site (www.aroadeyorubadictionary.com) gives 'suuru' as a translation for 'patience'. 'Sourou' must be the French spelling:)
ReplyDeleteGreat detective work!
DeleteBtw, most of the clothing that the men and women wore in those featured Anice Pepe videos are iraditional Yoruba styles.