Hans Johnson was planning a backpacking trip through Europe in 2001. Then he listened to some old tape recordings his father made while on a trip to Kenya a few years earlier. “He met some Maasai people and brought back some crude tape recordings of their music. I was immediately taken back by what I heard,” says Johnson. Wanting to hear more Maasai music he searched everywhere, including the Smithsonian and Library of Congress.

He did not find much. Just a few samples here and there. He decided to go to Kenya and record Maasai music for himself. A self taught audio engineer, Johnson quit his job as a record store clerk, purchased a plane ticket and a pair of hand crafted stereo microphones especially made for professional field recordings (DSM microphones made by Sonic Studios).

A month later he was walking from mud hut to mud hut in search of Maasai music. He met a Maasai man named Simon Saitoti who shared Johnson’s vision of documenting Maasai music. Saitoti understood the importance of preserving this important part of the ever changing Maasai community. Saitoti, a school teacher fluent in English, was able to help Johnson gain access to people’s homes, warrior encampments, schools and churches. Anywhere there was Maasai music, contemporary or traditional, they went. Between 2001 and 2003 they collected over 300 Maasai songs.

When you listen to the recordings you feel as if you are right there in the heart of Africa. You will find yourself in the center of a large group of warriors as they sing about their adventures among the wild animals of the savannah. You will visit a homestead in the evening when women sing as they milk cows and sing lullabies to their children as they fall asleep in their arms. You will hear love songs, young boys practicing chanting at night, church choirs, children’s play songs and the Maasai version of a blues musician (akin to the old delta blues man Mississippi Fred McDowell, but with a Maasai flare).

All proceeds go directly to the Maasai.

Download your own Maasai music tracks at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/maasaipeople.

Low a new CD out on Subpop called C’mon. Here is a little video set to their new song Especially Me made using images from Namuncha, Kenya.

Enjoy!

(Listen to field recordings of Maasai music at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/maasaipeople.)

Maasai culture is similar to a tree with its branches. Maasai culture takes many forms rooted in a common system of beliefs, customs, social structure, etc. – often varying across time and space.

The following is a very basic description of who the Maasai people are:

Name: Maasai, which means ‘my people.’

Location: Kenya and Tanzania

Population: Roughly 1 million

Language: Maa

Ancestry: Nilotic peoples from southern Sudan.

Economy: Primarily cattle herding (along with goats and sheep), some subsistence agriculture with pockets of large-scale farming.

Spiritual Beliefs: Belief in ‘Enkai,’ an omnipresent diety. There has been a recent introduction of western religions.

Community: Historically homesteads have contained one or several family homes. Thorn bush enclosures keep domestic animas safe from predators. Grazing land and water resources are generally shared.

Environment: Open grasslands called savannah, much of it surrounded by hills and forests filled with wildlife. Rains fall seasonally, historically from mid March through May, and October through November. However, prolonged and more frequent drought has resulted in a dramatic decline in seasonal rainfall.

Music: Traditional Maasai music is almost entirely vocal, with the exception of the kudu horn, shaken jewelry and rare hitting of sticks. Typically a group will sing polyphonic rhythms in unison while members take turns singing solo above the group’s chant. An example can be heard in this clip (song can be downloaded here):

Download your own Maasai music tracks at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/maasaipeople.