TIMOR . CHANTS DES EMA
collection CNRS Musée de l'Homme
SONGS OF THE EMA
Chant du Monde, 1979, LDX 74693
This prestigious series has covered many countries and areas introducing us to peoples far removed from us. Timor is probably one of them. Here Brigitte Clamagirand is our guide to the Ema people living in Central Timor which is part of Indonesia. She spent some time there in 1966 and 1969-70 among them.
There were 50.000 Ema at the time of her visits. The text (in French and English) written by Clamagirand focuses on musical culture and says nothing about the political and social situation of the Ema. But she mentions the word cantiga which refers to the Portuguese period of colonization; this former colony became East Timor so perhaps some Ema do live there too. EastTimor has been independant since 2002 after a violent war with the Indonesian government between 1975and 1999; I suppose that might have affected the Ema.
The Ema sing mainly for daily activities or social events. They use instruments like jew's harps made of bamboo or iron and a knotched flute. Each track is well introduced.
This a copy of an album I borrowed somewhere but I didn't scan the photographs only the text.
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