A monumental achievement by the authors & a joy to behold

books:

	• African Ceremonies Carol Beckwith, Angela Fisher Harry N. Abrams, 1999 - 744 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An Africa that *does* exist, but that is vanishing

The "concise edition" of AFRICAN CEREMONIES opens with a preface by Dr. Malidoma Some, president of "Echoes of the Ancestors" and author of his autobiography OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT and THE HEALING WISDOM OF AFRICA. Malidoma is from the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso. His name means "make friends with the stranger/enemy," and that is why he now lives in the West.

I have met Malidoma on a few occasions (participating in some of his rituals) and I corresponded with him for a time. He has been incredibly helpful and supportive in my own spiritual journey (he is an initiated shaman of his tribe and has recently become the youngest initiated elder), and therefore I trust what he says. Malidoma's preface makes it clear that, sadly, AFRICAN CEREMONIES documents a world that - unlike the claims of some - is not entirely gone, but that is quickly vanishing. Malidoma comments that these photographs are very important because they show the last time that some of these ceremonies will be performed in such elaborate nature, and perhaps they will never be performed again at all.

AFRICAN CEREMONIES continues the tradition of these well respected photographers by providing a beautiful volume of beautiful peoples.

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BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

HOW CAN ANYONE SAY THAT THESE CULTURES DON'T EXIST ANYMORE, OR THIS IS AN AFRICA THAT NO LONGER EXISTS. THEY TOOK THESE PICTURES WITHIN THE LAST 10 YEARS.. DIDN'T THEY ? DUH ? EVERYONE KNOWS THERE IS A COMMON EVERYDAY AFRICA.. GOING TO WORK GENERAL LIVING ( JUST LIKE US HERE IN AMERICA FOLKS) BUT STILL THERE IS AFRICAN TRIBAL SPLENDOR. JUST LIKE IN AMERICA INDIAN'S GET TOGETHER FOR TRIBAL POW WOWS. THEY STILL EXIST TOO. THE PICTURES IN THIS BOOK ARE SHOCKINGLY GORGEOUS...AFRICAN PEOPLE STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL. PLEASE! THE MEN ARE HANDSOME, THE WOMEN WONDEROUS. IT JUST MAKES ME WONDER WHY THE EUROPEAN STANDARD, HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE "STANDARD" OF BEAUTY. THIS REVUE MAY SOUND SHALLOW, BUT IF YOUR INTO THE HUMAN HAS ART FORM ...BUY THIS BOOK!!

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A monumental achievement by the authors & a joy to behold

African Ceremonies represents a decade of hard work and a tremendous achievement. Its authors convey great insight and deep respect for vanishing African cultures. Does any other work of photography or cultural anthropology even come close in its importance?

Readers will be engaged and fascinated by this window into a disappearing world. My reaction was one of deep appreciation-- thank you, Beckwith and Fisher, for sharing your journey with us.

See it before it disappears

A beautiful look at cultural conventions that may soon be relegated to the quaint and unusual.

Book is good, but the supplement CD is...

There is no-doubt about the photos are more than good.

However, the attached CD is less than poor or wrong...at least on the tracks from the East Africa; 11, 15 and 17 as below.

- Track 11 : KAMBA DRUMS
This is not the Kamba(a Kenyan ethnic group) drum.
The tune played here is called "GONDA" of the Giriama tribe of Kenya and the play itself is not of a high quality. It was played by unskilled players is obvious.

- Track 15 : BUGO
Well, it is Bugo play, but not at all of a traditional way of it. Songs usually accompany Bugo and the high-pitch trumpet-like sound mixed on the track seems not of a traditional instrument. The player is not a good one, too.

- Track 17 : MABUMBUMBO (Indian Ocean)
This is totally wrong.
First of all, it is MABUMBUMBU, NOT Mabumbumb-o-.
Secondly, MABUMBUMBU is the plural of Bumbumbu, which is the name of a type of drum the Giriama tribe uses. The Giriama lives in the Coastal area of Kenya towards inland - you cannot call the Giriamas as people of Indian Ocean.
Moreover, the tune played here is not of Mabumbumbu!
The tune here is of a drum section only of ORUTU music - Orutu is a one-string instrument played by the Luo tribe. The sound of drum you hear on this track is of a drum called OHANGULA, which is not in anyway related to Mabumbumbu; for these two tribes reside in the both ends of Kenya, East and West, more than 1000Kms apart!

I wonder how these careless mistakes passed through eyes of the publishers prior to its publication.

Readers please ignore the above-mentioned tracks - I hope only these three tracks! - on the supplement CD.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

The monumental two-volume original edition of African Ceremonies has sold a remarkable 30,000 copies in the United States alone at a retail price of $150. Now Abrams is proud to publish a newly designed, very affordable one-volume edition of this definitive work on the traditional rituals of Africa, containing more than half the magnificent photographs that were in the original edition plus new images that will focus fresh attention on specific ceremonies. Many of these rituals are vanishing; never have they been portrayed with the intimacy and skill that Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher bring to this glorious book. The book is accompanied by an audio CD of African ceremonies.

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