Missa Luba

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lucybeebee

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Has anyone heard Missa Luba? It takes the Latin text of the TLM and uses traditional Congolese musical styles (it was composed pre-Vatican II in the late 50s). Does anyone think that such an approach could help please traditionalists and those who are in favor of inculturation?
 
Yes. I don’t know if it’s the sort of thing I’d care to hear in a liturgical setting, but I like the music.
 
There was a recording of the Missa Luba in the music room at the university I attended. I listened to it a number of times. The music and performance were both reverent and suitable to the Congolese Catholics for whom it was written and who performed for the recording.

Matthew
 
There are two recordings…the older one is out of publication. This one was on LP and I first heard it in September of 69. The tempos are much quicker and they actually used Congolese choirs, The CD version is far more staid and lacks the verve of the first.

Sadly, I cannot find a link to the Creole Mass that was composed after Katrina and was performed in concert at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. It was a Mass composed for all New Orleanians but it was a concert setting whereas I think that Missa Luba was not.

Bishop, I have to sorta kinda disagree with you. I am aware of 17th century Mass settings in Cuba and Mexico which utilize native rhythms and native instruments. I can’t forget driving in to Mass one Sunday morning while listening to NPR. There was this group - the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble playing liturgical music on Aztec instruments and using an Aztec codex. There were about six or seven of us choir members sitting in our cars in the cathedral parking lot riveted to the radio. Eventually SAVAE came and gave a concert at the cathedral.

Lucy, I’m not sure I want to hear Missa “Chank-a-Chank” based upon Cajun Dance Hall Rythyms but your question is valid.
 
brotherhrolf said:
There are two recordings…the older one is out of publication. This one was on LP and I first heard it in September of 69. The tempos are much quicker and they actually used Congolese choirs, The CD version is far more staid and lacks the verve of the first.
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A-ha. That would explain why having heard it somewhere years ago and thinking, “must get that” I was slightly underwhelmed by the CD a kind friend gave me. I just put it down to unreliable memory.
 
According to amazon.com, the original version is going to be back in print next month on CD:

amazon.com/Missa-Luba-Troubadours-Roi-Baudouin/dp/B00142RX0I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1208231292&sr=1-1

I’m bringing up Missa Luba because I’m unsure how the TLM could make inroads into black parishes. It’s one thing to get rid of guitar masses, where the artificiality is evident. I’m fearful that trying to replace gospel masses with chant could be construed as being culturally insensitive. Not that it is, but that’s how it could be seen. I was wondering if something like Missa Luba could be a happy medium.
 
I’m glad to know the original recording is being re-released. I’d like to read the liner notes to see what kind of choral and percussion forces were used. I suspect it might be more than the average parish could muster.

Then, too, I wonder what Mass settings might already exist in Haiti, Cuba, or Brazil. I have heard some 18th century motets from Cuba that have a decidedly Afro-Cuban tone. In terms of south Louisiana, we had close connections to both Haiti and Cuba. I think there might be other possibilities that could be explored.
 
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