Some, like Chenoweth, work hard to discourage any Western influences. But if someone doesn't champion local music, it will be gone in a generation. Christian songs in indigenous forms are often disseminated rapidly once they are tape-recorded. And the music is heard all over. Shrine priests buy tapes and play them.
Children sing the songs to accompany their jumping and clapping games.
The Mono are one of many groups hearing Christian worship songs for the first time in their indigenous musical forms. It was the first time this had ever been done in that church's 40-year history. When the kundi choir had finished, there was complete silence among the 200 people in the thatched-roof sanctuary. So he asked some people whether they thought playing the kundi in church was evil. The music cut our hearts.