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09 Sep, 2016
Something different worth listening to
This is a recording, with the same album art that is on the LP, of marriage, work, dance, and other songs and a mass that is unlike the long, dry European masses you have undoubtedly heard. This mass is short and exciting. You do not need to be Christian or Catholic to enjoy the mass.
The entire album is about 30 minutes long, which is woefully short when the music is as novel and enjoyable as this. Unfortunately for the new listener, the information about the music which is on the LP is not included on the CD. The songs are presented in the order on the LP. Tracks 8-13 comprise the mass, and are on the "B" side of the LP. the first seven songs are marriage, work, dance, and other songs. I find that the album makes more sense if the mass is played first.
What is known from the liner notes is that a Belgian priest named Guido Haazen was a missionary in the Congo in the early 1950s. Valuing and wanting to preserve their indigenous music, he did not give them instruction on Western or European music and formed Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin: a choir with percussion section of about 45 boys aged 9 to 14 years old, and 15 teachers from their school. The choir made a 6-month European tour in 1958 and performed with the Vienna Boy's Choir when they were in Germany.