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as witness recordings by barely a dozen individuals staying at Ngambe (in the Cameroongrasslands), and associating with the Tikar chief of that town (Kubik, 1963-1964: B8650) … The strength of Pygmy musical culture also shows in the fact that the Pygmies’neighbors have almost invariably borrowed, however imperfectly, the Pygmies’ vocalpolyphony. In one musical genre or another, these neighbors adopt a pygmy style ofsinging, which quite often associates with hunting songs. Bantu-speakers such as theMpuems and Mpompo, in the southwestern Central African Republic and southeasternCameroon, have adopted Pygmy musical traits; but so have semi-Bantu-speakers, such asthe Tikar, notably in a dance called Ngbanya and in hunting songs called nswe. TheMangbetu, speakers of a Central Sudanic language in northeastern Zaire, have alsoadopted some elements of Pygmy polyphony. Therefore, on finding Pygmy-style vocalpolyphony among any sedentary population in Central Africa, a listener can concludethere has been Pygmy contact in the past, even if none occurs at present.” (Kubik,1998:658).Pygmies do not have professional musicians. Instead, all of them are expected toperform traditional polyphonic songs. Their musicality and ability to sing naturally inparts is quite astounding. “When two or three Pygmies are gathered together, they alwayssing polyphonically; I have never heard Pygmy choral singing in unison” wrote Rouget in1959. Polyphony up to seven parts had been documented among pygmies (Grimaud &Rouget, 1957). Even among the black Africans, whose outstanding musical and rhythmicsense has been highly revered by Europeans, Pygmies are considered to be much moreskillful and talented musicians. According to Lomax, “Even today Congo Pygmies areregarded by their Negro neighbors as master entertainers who can outperform them ontheir own drums and in their own dances” (1968:18). Interestingly, most of theborrowings by the Pygmies from the neighbor’s musical cultures were those of differentmusical instruments. As for the vocal style, and particularly the tradition of polyphonicsinging, Pygmies had a tremendous impact on the musical style of the whole CentralAfrica.Vocal polyphony of non-pygmy populations of Central Africa is very close to theEast African polyphonic traditions. Their polyphony is based mostly on pentatonic andhexatonic scales [five-note and six-note scales respectively – we discussed them earlier],and they employ parallel movement of melodic parts and the vertical coordination ofparts according to the above-described principle of “skipping one step”.The same way, as in East Africa, Christian missionaries found great interest inlocal populations towards the Christian religious polyphonic hymns. European hymnswere later replaced by the compositions of the native composers (such as Joseph Kiwele.Kubik, 1998:671). Changes did not stop at that. “In some churches even dances has beenintroduced [obvious courtesy to the strong local tradition of the unity of singing anddancing. J.J.], and the interior of the church adapted accordingly (Mapoma, 1980:20:630.Cited in: Kubik, 1998:671).The contemporary pop-music scene in Central Africa is one of the most activeand competitive in Africa. Ethnomusicologists note that it is not easy to put a clear borderbetween the terms “traditional”, “popular” and “modern” in this region. Traditionalsinging practices are very much alive, and many local musicians are creatingcontemporary bands with electric instruments and are creating their own original music(for example, zokela style) using the wealth of the musical landscape of their38