We have seen a transcription of one of their songs, which would require but little alteration to transform it into a very fair “slumber song.”
Many of them are quite skillful upon the flute, and have been described by Nubian travellers as equal to the best Frankish (European) performers who reside in Cairo.
The Monbuttoo also have a strong passion for music, so much so that the king sometimes dances before his wives and subjects, to the accompaniment of the royal band.
In his court concerts he has horn-men, who can modulate their tones from infinite tenderness to the sound of a lion’s roar; and can perform upon a horn so cumbrous that it can scarcely be held, passages of runs, trills and shakes, which would be even difficult upon a flute.
Court fools, jesters and mimics also appertain to the King of the Monbuttoo—Munza; they have also a sort of national hymn, more noisy than musical. The words are monotonous and much repeated,—
“Ee, ee, tchupy, tchupy, ee, Munza, ee!” will do as a sample line. The king stands up and beats time, with all the gravity of a musical conductor. His baton is made of a wicker worked sphere filled with pebbles, and attached to a short stick, in fact exactly what we should call a baby’s rattle. When he approves the performance or gets excited, he joins in the chorus with a stentorian “B-r-r-r-r——” which shakes the house.
It is singular that music boxes should be popular with Africans who indulge in such noisy effects, yet such is the fact; there is no present so desired by Negro potentates as a music box with bells and drums.
Explorers can find no surer road to the heart of an African chief than by a present of one of these mechanisms. Sir Samuel Baker had great trouble with King Kabba Rega (of the tribe of the Unyori,) about a music box.[220] Speke and Schweinfurth both found them among the most treasured possessions of the savage chieftains. Kabba Rega’s reason for prizing the box above all other musical instruments, is unique; on hearing it play, for the first time, he remarked,—“It is more convenient than an instrument which requires study, as you might set this going at night, to play you to sleep, when you were too drunk to play it yourself even if you knew how to do it.”[221] The national hymn of this monarch, bears considerable resemblance to the first part of the well known air—“Three Blind Mice.”[222]
We have not space to describe fully the rites and music of that curious people, the Abyssinians; two examples of their musical ceremonies must suffice.
A funeral procession (reported by an American eye witness) consisted of about one hundred and fifty people, old and young, preceded by a few priests; every few minutes the cortege would halt to shriek and howl. The priests (clad in cotton robes with broad scarlet bands) were acting in a frantic manner; tearing off their turbans, pulling their hair, then folding their hands on their breasts and looking inexpressibly miserable.