Luba mass in Congo Kasaï

The joyous voices of Congolese boys in praise of their grandfathers' gods as well as the Christian God. Never has a mass been sung in this manner. These young virtuosi feel so patently free. There is a reason. The ways of their ancestors were respected by this stranger, the white priest from Belgium. It is my understanding that Father Uudo Haazen came to the Congo in the early Fifties. Unlike most missionaries, this one came to learn as well as teach.

Thus, in gathering 45 young boys together, in forming Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin, he was teaching Christianity in the manner of The Carpenter. In loving his teen-aged black neighbors as himself, he, in effect, was saying: "I honor your ways and those of your fathers. If you learn this Christian mass, please sing it in the manner of your people, not my way but your way." (An assumption on my part, of course, the rapport between this one shepherd and his flock. I can come to no other conclusion on hearing this remarkable performance.)

There can be no mistaking the origins and traditions of these young singers. Some less than Father Haazen might

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