African pygmies tour Britain to highlight plight

A group of African pygmies have left their home in the rainforest for the first time to stage a British concert tour aimed at highlighting the destruction of their way of life.

Members of the Baka tribe from Cameroon arrived in Birmingham yesterday for a series of events showcasing their traditional music and singing.

They hope the tour will also raise awareness of the threat to their habitat from the logging industry and tourism.

The Baka, who are on average 1.2 metres tall, are nomadic hunter-gatherers who are thought to be the oldest inhabitants of Cameroon.

They are believed to number about 5,000 but are being driven out of the rainforests they occupy by international logging companies and safari tours, as well as by attempts by the government to force them to settle in one area.

The tribe has never left the forest, but a British charity has decided to harness the pygmies' unique musical talents to raise awareness of their plight.

Seven musicians and dancers from the tribe have formed a group called Baka Gbine which will feature the traditional bird-like singing that is used to enchant animals in the forest and ensure good hunting.

Martin Cradick, who created the Global Music Exchange charity to help the Baka people fight for their survival, said: "It seems a travesty that the Baka, one of the few remaining peoples living a truly ancient life, in touch with nature and their planet which they revere, are being squeezed out of their ancient forests and denied their lifestyle.

"The UK tour will give the Baka a wider voice internationally as well as giving them more confidence to stand up for their rights at home."

Mr Cradick described the musical ability of the tribe's members as phenomenal.

He said: "I think it's because, to survive in the rainforest, you have to learn to listen, whereas almost everywhere else our brains learn to filter out sound. Being a musician is 90 per cent about listening, which is why the Baka are so phenomenally musical and can pick up new instruments so quickly."

Baka Gbine will also launch their first album, Gati Bongo (Forest Cat), next week. The album was recorded using a mobile, solar-powered studio under a giant tree in Cameroon and profits will be channelled back to the tribe through Global Music Exchange.

Mr Cradick said: "For years they [the Baka] have asked me why I can go to Cameroon but they can't visit us in England.

"I have always put them off, not wanting to create a pygmy circus, but now that the Baka have created their own association, their own band and have recorded their own album, and are achieving such positive results back in Cameroon, the time seemed right."

The Baka have their own language, also called Baka, and hunt with poisoned arrows and spears.

The men are renowned as elephant hunters while the women gather wild nuts and berries and keep bees.

A Baku guitarist called Mbeh said in a recent BBC World Service interview: "We were born and grew up in the forest.

"We do everything in the forest, gathering, hunting and fishing. Now where do they want us to make our lives?

"We are prevented from using the forest. Where are we supposed to live our lives?"