An introductory study of music among the Kera
Use of music in the church
For most of the songs in the Kera church a hymnbook is used, but there are also a number of songs which are not in the hymnbook. A French songbook is also popular, even though many churchgoers do not understand French. These songs tend to be sung by only a few people. The melodies of the French songs are often changed from the original, sometimes to the point where they are hardly recognizable. The Kera version often fits in to a five-tone or six-tone system. For example "Stand up, stand up for Jesus" becomes:
Kera songs also tend to fit into a five-tone or six-tone system, although
there are exceptions. The Kera like to harmonize. Harmonizing is sometimes
difficult for someone who is used to American or European music, as the
intonation is different and the most common interval used in harmonizing
is the fourth. For five-tone songs, a couple of the notes are sometimes
pitched a little higher than the Western equivalent, giving the impression
to non-Africans that they are singing "off key." There seems to be more
freedom among the Kera as to what is considered to be acceptable. For
five-tone songs, the tones which are sharped are those which have a wider
interval before the next tone of the scale ("+" marks notes which tend
to be sharped):
Not all songs fit into the five-tone or six-tone system. I have also heard four adjacent whole tones, and one melody that I noted included eight tones (see the first song in the appendix).
In church, there is often one man who starts the song as a soloist, but after the song has gotten going, others join him so that there are often two or three parts. Generally, the men sing one part and the women sing another, a fourth lower. They are sometimes together and sometimes form a kind of echo. It is not clear-cut who sings which part or the exact tuning of certain notes. Different members of the congregation can often be a semitone or whole tone out from each other. Also, tunes tend to alter slightly for each verse. For example:
The main tune is sung mostly by women and the higher part mostly by men.
The songs which the young people sing tend to be simpler in structure, for example:
At the end of this song, some of the women provided a uvular trill. A number of Kera songs end in a glide, as does this song. Glides are also used in other places where there is a large interval jump.
Another characteristic of Kera singing is the tendency to nasalize all the time, and someone who sings with a harsh, loud tone is considered to be a good singer. Words are not pronounced very clearly, especially in well-known songs.
There is often a complicated structure to the arrangement of words in Kera church songs. Lines are often repeated. For example, AABCCCBC is a common pattern, as is AAABBBAB. Sometimes half a line is repeated, even if it is not a complete phrase in itself. Church songs often have more than 20 verses. For some of them, there is only a slight alteration of words from one verse to the next, making the songs easier to learn. In some, it is only the soloist who sings the verses. In others, the congregation repeats the words that the soloist has sung. These features make the songs easier to learn when few people own hymnbooks.
When the children meet in church, much of their time is spent in singing. The children's songs tend to be simpler than adult songs, with much repetition. Usually the songs are based on the pentatonic scale. At times, solo parts and harmony are also used. Children's songs are nearly always accompanied by drums. The children and young people often change from one song to another without stopping, for example:
Not all Kera churches have choirs, but the one in N'Djaména does. The service there begins with the choir entering from the back of the church. They move with a dance step as they sing. Some of the songs that the choir sings are in French, but they still have the same tonality as other Kera church songs. There does not seem to be much of a separate repertoire for choirs in Kera. They prefer to sing songs that could equally be sung by the congregation.
During the church service the offering is taken, accompanied by a song. In the Koupor church, it is nearly always the same song (see the first example in the appendix). In a number of churches, the Kera give by going up to the front. The men usually go first. One or two go to the front dancing, but apart from the offering, dancing is restricted to a time after the service when the young people sing with drums and the women join in the dancing.
The Kera church hymnbook encourages the singing of Kera songs rather than translated European or French songs. It also encourages literacy among the Kera. It seems that there are new songs being composed in an accepted church style. Many of the young people have some understanding of French, and have a tendency to sing French songs. Generally, however, the Kera enjoy their own music.
Instruments are being used more and more in church, but there is still a feeling that some instruments belong only in the festivals and when giving offerings to spirits. For this reason, flutes and horns are not used in the church. This restriction seems to be because of the association with the atal«wa festival (see festivals). The same distinction is found in other churches from neighboring language groups. Drums are considered to be more acceptable.