Gouton Tosse et son groupe folklorique de Lotin-gbedjewin Benin

Zinli is a traditional music-and-dance style of the Fon people from the Abomey region of present-day Benin. Rooted in royal court and communal ceremonial life, it features responsorial (call-and-response) singing in the Fon language over interlocking, polyrhythmic percussion. Typical ensembles center on gourd percussion (calabashes), hand drums, iron double-bells, and shakers. A bell timeline in 12/8 or 6/8 anchors multiple drum parts while a lead singer (often a griot-like figure) trades phrases with a chorus. The result is a lilting, circular groove that is both processional and danceable, used for commemorations, festivals, and lineage rites. While most strongly associated with courtly and ceremonial contexts, Zinli has also informed modern Beninese popular music, where guitars and horns may double traditional rhythmic patterns without losing the genre’s distinctive swing and responsorial structure.