Black Nativity Side Show -"Missa Luba: Sanctus" (Congo, Ethiopia, South Africa)

gbmnews | December 22, 2007
"This video honors the tradition of telling the story of Jesus Christ's birth from an ethnic perspective. In this film the Jewish people are represented by traditional black Jews from the Falasha people of Ethiopia and Lemba tribe of South Africa. The music is from the Missa Luba which is the mass sung to Congolese Folk Songs by Les Troubadours du Rei Baudouin."

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Here's some information about the Missa Luba from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missa_Luba

"The Missa Luba is a version of the Latin Mass based on traditional Congolese songs. It was arranged by Father Guido Haazen, a Franciscan Friar from Belgium, and originally performed and recorded in 1958 by "Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin", a choir of Congolese children from Kamina.

Father Guido Haazen arrived in the Belgian Congo in 1953 from Belgium. In 1954 he founded the Troubadours (named for Baudouin I of Belgium) as a choir of 45 boys aged 9 to 14 and 15 teachers from Central School in Kamina. In 1958 the ensemble toured Europe to acclaim, at one point singing with the Vienna Boys Choir. There was a high degree of improvisation in the performances, based around traditional song forms. The Sanctus is based on a Kiluba farewell song.[1]

The first recording, which dates from 1958, features solo vocalist Joachim Ngoi and was released as an album on the Philips label in 1963 in the UK (and two years later in the USA), including a selection of songs used as the basis for the Missa Luba. The contiguous "Sanctus" and "Benedictus" sections were released as a single, which spent some time on the record chart in the UK. In 2004 Philips released the original recording on CD (without the Congolese songs), plus a 2000 recording on DVD. The CD also includes the Misa Criolla and Misa Flamenca performed by other artists.

Since the 1960s the Missa Luba has been recorded by other choirs, including The Muungano National Choir of Nairobi, and the Washington Choral Arts Society."...