Lubango - The Huíla Regional Museum has since Tuesday its first Folk Music Score, donated by Duo CF & AB musical group, to preserve the national intangible heritage, which was already placed in the musical instruments exhibition area.
It is the Sheet Music of the song "Umbi Umbi" and its phonographic recording on a USB flash drive, in the version of the musician Filipe Mukenga, an icon of the Angolan music. This folk song represents the cultural values of various people from the south and centre regions of Angola.
The lyrics tell the story of two birds, the "umbi umbi", which flies high, and the "kakele katchimbamba", which flies low, mentioning the need to join forces in order to achieve results that benefit everyone.
The score shows the composition of four musical instruments, namely the guitar, the steel guitar, the vertical bass and a conga, to better guide people through the process of learning and practising music.
One of the promoters of the offer, Duo CF & AB musical group, Ângelo Bié said that it was a step that represented a "cultural leap forward", because Angolan music is rarely transcribed and the public has difficulties in coming into contact with a transcribed musical document.
He emphasised that it was a donation that gave the museum the chance for people to have contact with the score, a record that would remain for posterity, so that future generations would be able to access the document even many years from now.
Ângelo Bié said it had been difficult to make the score, taking almost a week to do so, because as well as being a transcription work, it involved methods, techniques and research, because of the different versions of the song.
In turn, the museum's director, Angelina Sacalumbo, said that this was a step towards one of the museum's objectives, namely the preservation of material and immaterial cultural heritage, adding that for long time they wanted to have something that represented Angolan popular music and the Duo had come to provide the piece for the dissemination of intangible heritage, as well as the preservation of the music itself in the region.
"The museum is in an era of forming partnerships with various groups and the Duo is one of them, because cultural tourism is gaining ground at national and international level, so one of the platforms through which cultural tourism is published is music and the Duo is making this link between music and culture", she said.
Museum signs cooperation protocol with the Duo
The protocol aims to promote the culture represented by the Museum through performances by the CF and AB Duo music group and to attract tourists through these publications. It lasts for two years and can be automatically extended for an equal period if there is interest between the parties.
Ângelo Bié explained that it was a partnership to help the scientific basis of national culture in the area of music, to bring knowledge to be able to identify musical pieces, among other aspects.
"The museum has a room with its own musical instruments, and within this partnership we want to regularly offer scientific content in the area. It is convenient for people to be able to use our instruments, find written records of them and also have all the physical documentation of our music", he continued.
He said that the Duo has around 80 scores of songs in various national music styles, and that by the end of the year they intend to have published a songbook of around 200 pages, with at least 70 songs.
With regard to this partnership, director Angelina Sacalumbo said it was a mechanism that would help publicise the institution and boost national cultural tourism, one of the government´s long-term objectives.
The C.F & A.B Duo, created in November 2022 by artists Carlos Fernandes and Ângelo Bié, makes instrumental video-covers of various styles of music, with the aim of entertaining and educating, so that nationals and foreigners can get to know national popular music and study it, which is why the work focuses on scores, tablatures and backtrackings.
The focus is also on entertainment, as they take part in different type of events.
EM/MS/MRA/jmc
