Baka Beyond

PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS and CAMPS

BAKA BEYONDfounded by Martin Cradick after a 3-month visit to Cameroon with singer wife, Su Hart. There they lived and played music with a tribe of Baka Pygmy hunter-gatherers deep in the rainforest. This trip inspired the award winning debut album, "Spirit of the Forest" in 1993, which led to the formation of the live band. Over the years, the band has evolved into a multi-cultural touring unit, which has played all over the world. BAKA BEYOND have headlined festivals such as Edmonton, Canada to 20,000 people, but still maintain the intimacy to play Arts Centres & the sense of fun to make any concert a party & any party a really memorable, inclusive occasion. To date they have recorded 7 studio albums as well as several Live albums including "Baka Live", recorded whilst touring with 7 Baka musicians.

After 17 years of mixing African and Celtic music in equal measures, BAKA BEYOND have become one of the finest danceable bands, creating the sound of the global village. The rhythms of the Baka from the Cameroon rainforest somehow resonate in many culture's music. BAKA BEYOND use this to bind together the music of different cultures into one vibrant sound. The earlier studio albums had guest artists recorded either "on location" in Africa or at Martin's studio in Bath whilst they were in UK. By the time, "Sogo" was recorded some of the best African musicians resident in England had joined BAKA BEYOND on a more permanent basis. Each album has explored the mixing of diverse cultures further, always reaching for the common source that ties us all together on this one world. The latest "Beyond the Forest" is a collaboration between Martin Cradick and the Baka women from Gbiné, S. E. Cameroon, who still sing their special magic songs to help the success of the hunt.

PERFORMANCES

BAKA BEYOND now perform in a few different line-ups:

BAKA BEYOND Quintet (5-piece line-up): Nii Tagoe takes over both drums & percussion while Molara, original singer of Zion Train, joins Su on vocals. With Martin & Kibi on guitar & bass they are a slimmed down very tight version of BAKA BEYOND, which has been getting great response over the last few months. "High tempo Afro-Punk with some mellow bits thrown in".
BAKA BEYOND (6-piece line-up): Tim Robinson returns to the lineup on drum-kit to free Nii to concentrate on African percussion, & De returns to join Su on vocals and add her amazing dance to the show.
BAKA BEYOND (7-piece line-up): Paddy Le Mercier comes over from France to bring his unique fiddle-playing to the brew.
BAKA BEYONDExtravaganza (all of the above!): A huge show with 8 of us putting on a vibrant spectacle.
BAKA Gbiné: It is a band of Baka musicians that Martin recorded in their rainforest home to produce the album “Gati Bongo”. Their music was the original inspiration for BAKA BEYOND and Martin Cradick recently toured in Cameroon with them as they returned home from their performance at the “Under the Volcano Festival”.

BAKA WORKSHOPS & CAMPS

RAINFORESTWORKSHOP is a multi-disciplinary day of excellence in Music/ Global Citizenship/ Geography PHSE/ RE for key stage 1 and 2. For millennia, the Baka have lived deep in the forest in Central Africa surviving through a profound awareness and understanding of their natural world. They found everything they need from the forest around them. Living in a world of natural sounds, everyone grows to be good at listening and taking part in music-making. Sharing and co-operation are essential for survival. Today, with the outside world encroaching on their forest, their culture and way of life are under threat. Su Hart, a trained teacher and singer, has visited the Baka many times since 1992 and built her firsthand experiences into an input for schools around National Curriculum guidelines. The workshop sessions have children and teachers actively participating with confidence. Through learning about the life of the Baka they develop their own skills whilst gaining an understanding of the diversity of cultures. Workshop covers active “forest” listening, forest vocal technique, breath control, voice placement, vocal release work, songs (from baby-soothing to spiritual), multi part singing, densely textures songs with overlapping, polyrhythmic interdependent parts, co-operative musical games and movement, yelli singing, forest yodeling for animal enchantment.

BAKA CULTURE CAMPS with Martin Cradick and Su Hart include workshops (singing, percussion, guitar, dance), music round campfires, live performance, films and talks, morning yoga, massage yurt, camping and hot vegetarian evening meals and shared lunches.

"Loved the inclusiveness right through the whole week end. Such friendly positive energy and a real insight to the Baka." …"A heartwarming experience that will stay with me." …."Fantastic workshops and wonderful in betweens in superb orchard surroundings, great massage, lovely chilled out jamming round the fire and Saturday boogying together!"

ONE HEART -GLOBAL MUSIC EXCHANGE- www.1heart.org

ONE HEART

Baka Beyond set up the charity “Global Music Exchange” (GME), named "ONE HEART " by the Baka Women in 1995. GME makes sure that any royalties due to Baka musicians either goes direct to them, or is used in projects that they have control of. GME also works to encourage people to value their traditional music and dance in a world where both religion and modern fashion are doing their best to wipe it out.The term "ONE HEART" was coined by the Baka women themselves. They wanted proceeds from recordings made to be used for projects that all agreed to and done with good motivation with one heart.

AIMS

Record endangered music and bring royalties from sales back to the musicians' community.
Use funds collected to carry out projects agreed by and of benefit to the community.
Encourage self-worth and respect for their culture by showing that it is appreciated in the wider world.
Relieve poverty in communities, which have provided music for recordings.
Educate people in Britain about foreign cultures by running workshops in schools and community centres

HISTORY

Global Music Exchange was created after Martin Cradick & Su Hart went to live with them in 1992. Following their first visit to the Baka a fruitful musical partnership has grown and evolved. On this first visit they played music and recorded with the Baka. This led to the production of 2 albums released on Hannibal Records, "Heart of the Forest" & "Spirit of the Forest" - songs inspired by the Baka & the first "Baka Beyond" release. They set up the charity Global Music Exchange, known to the Baka as "One Heart", to collect royalties due to the Baka from "Heart of the Forest" and for their contributions to Baka Beyond's albums. These funds are used for forest projects decided by the Baka themselves.

In the following years Su & Martin made several trips to the forest to research the best ways to help the Baka, culminating in a visit in 2000 with anthropologist Dr Jerome Lewis. In 2003 Martin Cradick took Andi Main, a skilled timber frame builder, to the Baka community to start the construction of their music house. With the use of tools donated by the charity, "Tools for Self Reliance" he taught Baka and Bantu the basics of timber frame construction and together they built a magnificent house from one giant Sapelli tree. The Music House is the first building of its kind built and owned by an indigenous community in this part of Africa. It is being used as a meeting place for their newly formed association, Gbiné, as well as to showcase culture. They now realise that their music and dance underpins their culture, unite them and is something of value to others. It not only brings them financial rewards, but more importantly, the respect of their Cameroonian neighbours and recognition in the wider world.

PROJECTS

GME continue to work with the Baka Pygmies, particularly a group that live in a village called Banana near the border town of Moloundou. In 2005 & 2006 GME also worked in Ethiopia, organising a festival of traditional music and dance in Arba Minch. Ever since then Martin and Su have been planning a similar festival in Cameroon. In 2009 "The Adventurists" asked them to organise their end of rally party. Since a stage and PA would be needed for this in the evening, it was agreed that they could use this in the day for a traditional music & dance festival.

So, in January 2010 GME organised the "Under the Volcano" Festival in Limbe, South-West Cameroon. Performers from 7 of the 10 regions in Cameroon took part and we hope to make it bigger and even better next year. Some of the performers (including the Baka) also played their modern music at the evening party. To find out more about the festival, please visit www.cameroontogether.com.

In order to help the Baka as much as possible GME have started working in partnership with the Forest Peoples Program and CED, a Cameroonian NGO.So far the following projects have been set up with the Baka:

organising a festival of traditional music & dance in Limbe
providing ID cards for the Baka people, thus protecting their human rights
distribution of basic necessities
establishing a Music House - Baka Cultural Centre – around which a Baka village known locally as “Gbiné” has grown
recording and sale of their music thus raising funds for both individual musicians and the community as a whole
basic medicine and the building of a small medical centre at Gbiné
involvement of local NGOs to help them understand their human rights

The Baka wish to develop:

good use of the Music House
capacity building: new-life skills, helping them to make informed choices
a medical centre that practices both Western and forest medicine
the release in Cameroon to raise their status as musicians and provide a way to earn a living
the promotion and protection of the Baka way of life