EMAC-Dataset-DRC

Musical Traditions

The musical heritage of the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most diverse and internationally recognised on the African continent, encompassing hundreds of ethnic musical traditions across its vast territory. The EMAC sub-corpus for DRC draws on traditions of vocal domestic music (berceuse), narrative oral music (chante-fable), and epic musical performance (musique épique). These genres belong to the sphere of community transmission and oral literature, where music functions as a vehicle for memory, narrative, and social identity. The diversity of DRC musical traditions is reflected in the country's ethnomusicological infrastructure, which by 1979 had already produced substantial archives of recorded traditional music.

Genres Represented

• Berceuse (BER): A traditional lullaby genre, performed vocally to soothe infants. One session is represented (BER_001).

• Chante-fable (CHF): A hybrid narrative genre combining sung passages with spoken prose. One session is represented (CHF_001).

• Musique épique (MEP): An epic music tradition in which extended narrative performances are delivered in a melodic or semi-melodic vocal style, often accompanied by instrumental music. One session is represented across three audio files (MEP_002, parts 1–3 of 3).

Mode of Oral Transmission

The musical traditions represented in this dataset are transmitted orally, through community performance, family apprenticeship, and participation in ceremonial and social events. No standardised written notation system exists for these genres. Epic music (musique épique) in particular is associated with specialist oral performers who acquire their repertoire through prolonged apprenticeship with master performers. The recordings in this dataset document elicited performances in a controlled environment and serve as primary archival evidence of these traditions as practised by DRC performers affiliated with the Institut des Musées Nationaux and the Institut National des Arts.

Source

The recordings in this dataset were collected by researchers and technicians of the EMAC project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaïre), approximately between 1979 and 1982. The project engaged the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Zaïre and the Institut National des Arts de l'Université du Zaïre (Kinshasa campus) as the principal institutional partners. Emmanuel Gatete, chef du département de musicologie at the Institut National des Arts, was the country representative at the Sangmélima founding meeting. The original recordings were stored on magnetic tape at CERDOTOLA and digitised in 2015 under the coordination of Dr. Emmanuel Ngue Um.

Domain

The recordings represent three genres of traditional vocal music from the DRC: a lullaby, a song-fable, and an extended epic music performance in three parts. All performances were elicited in a controlled recording environment at the request of the EMAC project.

Size

Total audio duration: approximately 1 hour 25 minutes (5,094 seconds), distributed across 5 WAV audio files. IMDI 3.03 XML metadata files: 1 (corpus-level only), in IMDI/ subfolder.

Structure

The dataset comprises 5 WAV audio files organised as follows:

• EMAC_CD_BER_001-1-1.wav — Berceuse 001 (1 part of 1)

• EMAC_CD_CHF_001-1-1.wav — Chante-fable 001 (1 part of 1)

• EMAC_CD_MEP_002-1-3.wav — Musique épique 002 (part 1 of 3)

• EMAC_CD_MEP_002-2-3.wav — Musique épique 002 (part 2 of 3)

• EMAC_CD_MEP_002-3-3.wav — Musique épique 002 (part 3 of 3)

File naming convention: EMAC_{CC}{GENRE}{NNN}-{part}-{total}.wav

• CC = ISO country code (CD = Democratic Republic of Congo)

• GENRE = genre code (BER, CHF, MEP)

• NNN = zero-padded session number

• part / total = part index and total number of parts for multi-file sessions

IMDI metadata files (IMDI/ subfolder):

• EMAC_Republique_Democratique_du_Congo_Zaire_.imdi — Corpus-level (Ethnomusicologie du Congo Démocratique)

Sample