Song from the Forest

Entranced by a piece of vocal music which he heard on Dutch radio in 1980, Louis Sarno, an American anthropologist, spent hundreds of hours listening to ethnic music in pursuit of its source. He then travelled to the ancient rainforests of the Central African Republic to seek out its creators, who proved to be pygmies, a people legendary for their short stature and melodic wealth. Expecting to discover a noble people at one with nature and constantly indulging in meaningful music, Sarno was disappointed to find what seemed to be a lazy, scrounging group, surviving exclusively on tadpoles. Only when he had lived with the Ba-Benjelle pygmies for some time was he allowed to see that this unsavoury veneer was in reality covering a culture of extraordinary beauty and spiritual sophistication. He became inextricably involved in their lives - attempting, as he did so, to record their music for posterity, often with hilarious consequences. At the same time, he sought to protect their fragile existence from an increasingly destructive world. Permanently changed by his experience and captivated by a beautiful pygmy girl, he found making his home there a very easy decision.
Encompassing cultural, environmental and human interest, this is Sarno's story.