The Mouth Bow
My first post in a series of blogging about my interests features an instrument you don’t see every day, and a musician who should be known by all. Fred Johnson, now known also as Frejon, plays the Outa, or African mouthbow, in this featured video. Johnson seems to be an expert at this, but if you haven’t heard him sing, you’re really missing Fred Johnson. Fred is playing a mouth bow made by musician and craftsman from the Tampa area, Abasi Ote. I have one of these unique instruments made by Abasi also.
I believe it was Fred’s generosity that got me that mouth bow. I’d never seen such a thing. It’s based on the African version called the Outa. I was accompanying Fred at the time as percussionist and musical colorist in his Sound Sculptures performances, a total exercise in improvisation. I absolutely loved it. That’s my kind of project. You never knew what was going to happen, and it was so invigorating – like walking a high wire! 
I also had the pleasure of playing Ruth Eckerd Hall with Fred. We opened for David Sanborn and received a standing ovation for our short set. Absolutely the best-sounding performance I’ve ever been involved in. What a thrill!
I do believe it was the experience in improvisation that I had with Fred that led me eventually to my improvisation-based Live Music for Yoga that I have created for my own musical path. There’s something great about not quite knowing what will happen next; leaving things open enough for the inspiration of the moment. Fred is still thriving in the art of improvisation, helping people connect to their inner self through creating their own sound, working with such luminaries as Deepok Chopra in the world of self healing. Check out Fred Johnson’s website at http://www.frejon.org/
Take a look at the video:
A couple more notes about the mouth bow: You probably haven’t seen anyone else playing one, but a couple of modern musicians, such as Johnny Clegg and Pops Mohamed have been known to play one. Look ‘em up. They’re both from South Africa.
Here are a couple of blurbs about them from Wikipedia:
Pops Mohamed, or Ismael Mohamed-Jan (born 1949) is a respected South African multi-instrumentalist, jazz musician and producer.
Born 10 December 1949 in Benoni, Gauteng Pops Mohamed’s career in music was the logical outcome of an early exposure at Dorkay House to the likes of Abdullah Ibrahim and Kippie Moeketsi. He started his first band The Valiants, at 14. Known by fans as the Minister of Music[1], Mohamed’s sheer love of sound is evident from the variety of instruments he has played: African mouth bow, bird whistle, berimbau,didgeridoo, guitar, keyboard, kora, and the thumb piano. He is also known for his wide range of musical styles which include kwela, pop, and soul[2]. He produced Finding One’s Self, the late Moses Taiwa Molelekwa‘s award-winning album. See more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pops_Mohamed.
Jonathan “Johnny” Clegg (born 7 June 1953) is a musician from South Africa, who has recorded and performed with his bands Juluka and Savuka. Sometimes calledLe Zoulou Blanc (“The White Zulu“), he is an important figure in South African popular music history, with songs that mix Zulu with English lyrics, and African with various Western European (such as Celtic) music styles.
I was a Johnny Clegg fan way back in the ’80′s. See his website at: http://www.johnnyclegg.com/. The Wikipedia page is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Clegg.
DIY – Build a Mouth Bow:
Oh, this just in! In case you really want to dig in to the mouth bow – I found an interesting article of history and how to build one. This is an article with a lot of detail, on a site about ancient instruments. Enjoy! http://www.ancientmusic.co.uk/hobby/mouthbow.html
A Little More History:
Here’s part of an Article from Wikipedia on the Mouth Bow:
Obu man playing a musical bow, Obubra, Cross River State, Nigeria
The musical bow is a simple string musical instrument consisting of a string supported by a flexible string bearer, usually made out of wood. Often, it is a normal archery bow used for music rather than as a weapon.
If you like, you can find the rest of this article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_bow
It’s not that easy to find info on this subject. If you find more, please comment.
I hope this has been interesting and enlightening. More to come.
