Musiques actuelles et religion Vodoun au Bénin

The Republic of Benin, formerly called the kingdom of Dahomey, is a country with important cultural and historical heritage. Land of tradition and Voodoo par excellence, Benin is now a set of popular cultural assets. For the young Beninese generations, at a time of globalization, Benin with its diversified cultural resources, must assert itself on the international stage by enhancing its different cultural potentialities. Among these are included traditional music inspired by the voodoo religion, important elements born of traditional practices. The first festival of Voodoo arts and cultures in Ouidah organized in 1993 under the patronage of Unesco shows a real craze at international level. Examples are numerous and we can also mention Pan African meetings with the Market for African Performing Arts (MASA) in Côte d’Ivoire, a symbol of encounter between peoples and cultures of Africa. Many cultures were represented on that occasion. In 2003, the Gangbé Brass Band, worldly famous, was part of the three music bands from Benin which were present at the festival, and whose inspiration is drawn from the tradition of Vodoun, coming clearly within the scope of a process of promoting cultural values ​​of Benin. Between improvisation on jazz rhythms and a style worthy of a fanfare, showing off through the streets of Benin and on international stages, their message is clear: they claim that, being in chase of modernity, leaving tradition aside appears as a decoy. By mixing the sounds of their metal rhythms with jazz and rhythms inherited from vodun convents, that are places of initiation rites par excellence, they manage to revive the roots of black music in an original way.