In 1968, the movies came to Cheltenham in the shape of Lindsay Anderson’s film If… starring Malcolm McDowell. It was set in Cheltenham College and my friend Shirley was one of the extras. The soundtrack of the movie featured the Sanctus from a setting of the mass from the Democratic Republic of Congo performed by the Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin. Philips capitalised on the exposure the music received in If … by releasing the Sanctus and Benedictus as a single, which spent eleven weeks in the British charts, peaking at No. 28 in March 1969. I liked it so much that I went out and bought the LP. I thought some extracts from this work might provide some spiritual uplift this Sunday morning.
Father Guido Haazen O.F.M. became director of Kamina Central School in what was then the Belgian Congo in September 1953. Within weeks he established an ensemble consisting of a male choir – about forty-five boys aged nine to fourteen and fifteen adults – and percussion. In 1957 he received royal consent to name the ensemble Les Troubadours du Roi Bauduoin in honour of the Belgian king Baudoin I. In the same year Haazen and the Baluba people of Kasai and Katanga began developing the Missa Luba from collective improvisations on traditional song forms. It was first celebrated at the Catholic mission of St. Bavo in Kamina in March 1958. The next day, the ensemble left for a tour of Europe, performing the Mass and Congolese folk music in Belgium (where they gave concerts at the World’s Fair in Brussels), the Netherlands, and Germany. The celebrated recording of the Missa Luba by the Troubadours and soloist Joachim Ngoi, a teacher at Kamina Central School, was made at this time.
The music for the Mass was not written down. Father Haazen responded to demand from choirs wanting to perform the piece by publishing a transcription of the recorded version in 1964, with a new edition in 1969.
The Kyrie is in the style of a kasala, a Luba song of mourning. The Gloria is improvised in the Kiluba style characteristic of Katanga. The Credo, the longest section of the Mass, is based on five different folk songs linked by improvisations. The text of the Credo refers to the crucifixion of Christ and the vocal part in the Missa Luba is preceded by the customary announcement of death, first on the kyondo (log drum), then on the kikumvi (tom tom). There follows a kilio (elegy) without percussion accompaniment, sung by the solo voice.
The Sanctus and the Benedictus were inspired by a Bantu farewell song. The Hosannah is a rhythmic dance of Kasai, and the Agnus Dei is a typical Bena Luluwa song, such as might be heard around Kanaga.
The Missa Luba was the most successful of many world music Masses created in the 1950s and 1960s. It eclipsed the earlier Messe des Savanes (1956) arranged by Abbé Robert Wedraogho in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and gave rise to several imitations, including the Misa Criolla (1964) and the Misa Flamenca (1966).
In the authoritative music magazine Mojo, the Belgian-Congolese record Missa Luba of Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin is mentioned as one of the ten albums that ‘made’ the sound of Led Zeppelin.
