I would like to refer to Europa Ca11tatJunior 3 in Namttr OJ, to the body percussion workshop there. You made the children dance, create rhythm with their bodies, sing, play small perrnssion instr11me11ts, etc. Wasit a demonstration of what can be done, or an ordinary way of working;
and a good mu sician also needed to be ab le
Let me te ll you that th e choral co ndu cto rs in
kind o f work are very different w ith each of
to dance.
Tellme about yo ur choirs .. . about your work. .. I co ndu c t thr ee choir s: two child ren's choir s and a yout h choi r. The reperto ire and th e
Be n in d o fama stic work, cons idering the fact
th em. For instance, one of th e cho irs with
that th ere a re many tasks to fulfil whi ch they
whi ch I work, includ es 150 schoo l ch ild re n
do on a volunrary b asis, as we do not h ave
w ho co m e from a schoo l near Cotonou
profess io nal choir s in our country.
w he re th e re is st ill no electr icity. I do a lot of
Our concep t of "choral conductor"
or
"o rche stra l co ndu ctor" is co mpl et ely diff ere n t. I will give you an example: in
polyrhythm s an d uni son sing in g with them . The ch ildr en si ng very loud, a nd the reaso n
traditiona l mu sic, rhe pe rso n who con du cts
for thi s is that in their da ily lives most people here spea k in a lo ud voic e. Thi s affects th e
the choir is th e so lo ist, th e principal singe r or
quality of th e vo ice, an d the maj or diffi c ulty
the main pe rcuss ionist. Who ever it is, he o r
for me is to give d ept h to th ei r singing ...
she must be a co mplete music ian and express
T he repertoire for my other c hoirs is rather
the mu sic wi th his or her entire body .
varied, th ey sing Afr ican and ot her mu sic.
T h e use of hands, fee t or oth er body parts to
I would like ro work wit h Euro pea n chi ldr e n
accompany th e sing ing in un ison is a
in orde r ro teac h them to sing and dan ce th e
freq uent practice in Beni n and elsewhe re in
conte mporar y wor ks whic h I have don e with
Afr ica. Call a nd response is pra ctised a lot in
my ow n cho irs. .. •
Ben in. Our ancestors told us that singing
(I)
and dancing were intimatel y bound together,
2 1]11/y200 1.
Europa Cn11tnt J1111ior 3 took pincefrom 13-
Felix Nassi was born 01120 November 1961 in Nat itingo11,in the north of Benin. He is a self taught m11sicin11, b11ttook a number of cond11cti11g coursesin Franceand the Netherlands. He is thefo11nderand director of severalchoirs, the best-known of which is the "Choeur d'E11fan1sc/11Benin" with which he participated in the "World of Children's in 2001. This Choirs"festival in Va11co11ver choir also obtained a prize last year tit the Choir Olympics in Bwan, Koreaand has to11redin France and Belgi11m. At present Felix Nassi is the organizer of the "RencolltresPo91pho11iq11es lntemationril es de Cotonou"festival of which he is also the choral directo1: In addition, he cond11 cts music programmes 011Benin Radio and Television. Felix is an I FCM Advisor in chargeof promoting choralsinging in \Klt?st11fi·ica. Email:felix . 111wi@yahoo.fr This imerview was co11d11cted by N riria 7i1ra i Ros (a 111 e111b er ofthe Editorial Te11111 of"'La of thr Secretari11tde Circular·; the 111af(nzi11e - SC l C- the Comls h1fir11ti ls de Cat1d1111y11 Cr1111l1111 children's,·hoirfet!emtion. E11111il : 1111ri 11.t11m@scic .net The intervit•w took p/11ceduring 1:·11mp11 XV in B11rcelo1111 , Sp11i11 (/8 -27 }11/y Cr111t11t 2003) 1111tl 11111s completed b)' I::11111il rorrespo11de11re . Firstpuhlimti,111in L11Circular 11° 12 5, April. /vlay,J1111e 20 04. reprodurtio11in tm11Sl11tio11 with ki11rlpermission. (T rans!. from C:n~lan by Jurra "fa ggc r)