ABSTRACT
“Bisengo Bwa Bolé” is a Mabo dance song of the BaAka People of the Central African Republic. The main melody of this song (marked as “Theme” in the transcription) centers on a single line of text: “Bisengo bwa bolé,” which means “Great bisengo / my sibling’s bisengo.” (One variant that BaAka singers often sing is, “Bisengo bwa yaya eh,” which means “Great bisengo / my cousin’s bisengo.”) “Bisengo” is a BaAka word that means “pleasures,” and it refers to pleasurable items such as honey, manioc-leaf stew, and perfume. The transcription below is a descriptive notation, representing the basic cyclical structure of the song on the gateway recording. It shows the main melody and how that melody may be shorter or longer, and may vary, as the singer decides. It also shows examples of two yodeled melodies, a low-pitched repeating pattern, the rhythms played by the drummers, and the clapping pattern that indicates the basic dance beat. Using Western staff notation, spaced with precision to demonstrate the polyrhythmic relationships between the various parts, this transcription captures the complexity of the music that accompanies a Mabo dance.
