Louis Sarno

{{Short description|American musicologist and author (1954–2017)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}

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| name = Louis Sarno

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1954|07|03}}

| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|04|01|1954|07|03}}

| death_place = Teaneck, New Jersey

| nationality = American and Central African

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Louis Sarno (July 3, 1954 – April 1, 2017) was an American adventurer, recorder of folk music and author. In the mid-1980s until about 2016 he made field recordings of the music of a Bayaka (BaAka) "pygmy" forest people while living among them in the Central African Republic.{{cite news |last1=Swains |first1=Howard |title=Inside the World of Louis Sarno, the Pygmy Chief From New Jersey |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/24/inside-world-louis-sarno-pygmy-chief-new-jersey-322714.html |access-date=4 April 2017 |work=Newsweek |date=18 April 2015 |df=mdy-all}} The recordings are now held by the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University and Wild Sanctuary, an archive of indigenous music, stories and natural soundscapes. Sarno lived in the CAR for more than 30 years, and held dual citizenship there and in the United States.{{cite AV media |last=Sarno |first=Louis |date=April 25, 2014 |title=Louis Sarno 5 |medium=video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0BITqPfLMY |access-date=2018-02-13 |publisher=Doug Spencer |via=YouTube}} He documented some of his experiences in his memoir, Song from the Forest: My Life Among the Pygmies (1993), which Geoff Wisner included in his survey work A Basket of Leaves: 99 Books That Capture the Spirit of Africa.{{cite book | title = A basket of leaves: 99 books that capture the spirit of Africa | first = Geoff | last = Wisner | publisher = Jacana Media | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-1-77009-206-8 | page = [https://archive.org/details/basketofleaves990000wisn/page/28 28] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/basketofleaves990000wisn/page/28 }} In the late 1990s two albums, Music of the Bayaka, Volume I and II, produced by Bernie Krause were released under Wild Sanctuary, an archive that holds additional music and natural soundscape recordings by Sarno.

Of Italian heritage, Louis Sarno was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Although without formal training in anthropology or ethnomusicology, in 1985 he went to Africa to record music of inhabitants of the rainforest. He and his collaborator Bernie Krause combined recordings of Bayaka music with sounds of their surrounding environment into a two-CD/book package entitled Bayaka: The Extraordinary Music of the Babenzélé Pygmies (Ellipsis Arts).

Louis Sarno married a Bayaka woman for a period of time, and adopted a son (Samedi).[http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/061396/article001.shtml Louis Sarno] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002232657/http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/061396/article001.shtml |date=October 2, 2012 }}, an interview by Deni Kasrel. Philadelphia City Paper, June 13–20, 1996.

The documentary film Song from the Forest, by German director Michael Obert, tells Sarno's life story. The film premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013{{Cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/song-forest-idfa-review-659585|title=Song From the Forest: IDFA Review|last=Young|first=Neil|date=November 23, 2013|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=April 14, 2017|language=en}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/review-in-song-from-the-forest-louis-sarno-joins-a-pygmy-tribe-starts-a-family-and-returns-to-new-york-63450/|title=In 'Song From the Forest,' Louis Sarno Joins a Pygmy Tribe, Starts a Family and Returns to New York|last=Kohn|first=Eric|date=April 6, 2015|website=IndieWire |language=en |access-date=April 14, 2017}} where it was honored with the Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary.{{Cite news|url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/song-from-the-forest-wins-at-idfa/5064163.article/|title=Song From The Forest wins at IDFA|last=Macnab|first=Geoffrey |date=November 29, 2013|work=ScreenDaily|access-date=2017-04-14|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.idfa.nl/industry/press/29-november-song-from-the-forest-wins-the-vpro-idfa-award-for-best-feature-length-documentary.aspx/IDFA|title=Song From the Forest wins IDFA Award|publisher=International Documentary Filmfestival Amersterdam|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212004336/http://www.idfa.nl/industry/press/29%2Dnovember%2Dsong%2Dfrom%2Dthe%2Dforest%2Dwins%2Dthe%2Dvpro%2Didfa%2Daward%2Dfor%2Dbest%2Dfeature%2Dlength%2Ddocumentary.aspx/IDFA|archive-date=2015-02-12|url-status=dead|access-date=April 14, 2017}} A movie based on Sarno's life called Oka! was released in 2011 (in the Aka language, oka means "listen").

Sarno died on April 1, 2017, in Teaneck, New Jersey, due to complications of liver ailments.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/arts/music/louis-sarno-dead-studied-pygmies-music.html|title=Louis Sarno Dies at 62; Moved to Africa to Preserve Ancestral Music|date=2017-04-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-01-13|df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/04/15/524076553/remembering-louis-sarno-and-his-sounds-of-the-rain-forest?t=1578911015328|title=Remembering Louis Sarno, And His Sounds Of The Rain Forest|date=2017-04-15|website=NPR|access-date=2020-01-13}}