Track Listing

1. Live at Real World (Live)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53534 in Music
• Released on: 1992-03-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Peter Gabriel's Real World label has done the Western worlda great service by recording outstanding music from all corners of the world--music Western listeners most likely wouldnot have heard otherwise. THE DRUMMERS OF BURUNDI is no exception. Here, this centuries-old group, who play huge ceremonial drums with heavy sticks and a staggering force and precision, unleash their thunderous, ritual-charged power. In Burundi, the drum is a sacred object, closely associated with fertility, the life cycle and nobility (the Burundi word ingoma translates as both "drum" and "kingdom"). The performance seems therefore doubly charged with significance and vitality, a feeling echoed in the ritual chants, cheers, and calland response woven throughout.
While THE DRUMMERS OF BURUNDI may strike the casual Western ear as somewhat monochromatic, the recording is actually comprised of forty-one different rhythms--pulses and counter-rhythms, varying tempos, harsh, clacking side-stick accents--and each rhythm representsan important concept of Burundi society: the recognition ofimportant figures, peace, respect, unity and the progress of their country. In this way, THE DRUMMERS... is not only a powerful musical statement, but also a window into the life of a vital African culture.