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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CD's~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Africa New York
by Ladji Camara / CD / published Mar 1983

Reviewed by Happy Shel. This CD [with chants] is from a live performance with Ladji Camara in Canada, February, 1983. Papa Ladji, as he is affectionately called by his students, brought the djembe to the US in the mid 1960's and was sponsored by Babatunde Olatunji. The music is traditional rhythms that are lively. If you like chants with drums, you'll surely want to get this CD, before it goes out of print.

Love Drum Talk 1998 Grammy Nominee
by Babatunde Olatunji - released September, '97

Reviewed personally by Doug Kane, "Love Drum Talk" is Baba Olatunji's most recent, Grammy-nominated album - "Love Drum Talk" is a musical treat. With its emphasis on deep-voiced drums interposed against sweetly melodic voices and string instruments, this recording achieves a rare symbiosis as it explores different aspects of the mysteries of Love.

The first track, "sare tete wa", is a plea by a lover to his/her estranged beloved to hurry back. This song, with a theme based on the old 50s standard "Lover Come Back" explores similar rhythmic territory of some of Baba's best compositions from the "Celebrate Freedom" and "Drums of Passion: The Beat" CDs, but with an additional dimension as the chorus of vocalists echo the instrumentalists.

"what's your number, mama?" is a playful take on the number games that potential lovers play. Upbeat dance floor lust grooves through this song.

"love drum talk" is "a conversation primarily between the drums and the drummer about the nature of a certain love." Baba goes deep on this one.

Set to an old West African melody, "bebi alolo" is a beautiful song about a petite young woman who loves to dance to the drums. It opens with sweet acoustic guitar licks, answered by the deep-throated voice of the djun-djun and ashiko drums, all of which set the stage for a vocal
conversation between Baba and the chorus.

In "spell monisola" Baba sings of his beloved granddaughter. What greater love could there be? This song demonstrates "the way in which sounds of music in most African names can be taught by spelling and drumming."

"don't know why my love" explores the potential pain of passionate love. The strings and voices express the "various stages and intensities of pain. But the ashiko and djun-djun beat to the heal the hurt."

The electric bass opens "mother, give me love" with a loping, snaky rhythm line, introducing Baba's plea for love from those closest to him. Baba stretches his remarkable vocal range, and pushes the song to greater and greater intensity as the drumming slowly builds. And builds. And thens drops back down for a gently invigorating fade-out. Baba at his very best.

"long distance lover" utilizes a rhythmic theme that many of Baba's students will recognize, celebrating the strength of those "whose love is keener and more enduring as the distance separating them from their loved ones increased."

Baba's musical sensibility was formed surrounded by the drums that "were a daily backdrop to life in his birthplace, the fishing village of Ajido, some forty miles outside Lagos [Nigeria]." "Love Drum Talk" is a testimonial to that musical sensibility and how it has been influenced
in the 47 years since Baba arrived in America.

In acting as one of Africa's musical ambassadors, Baba has always sought to explore "integral facets of the human experience". On "Love Drum Talk" he takes on "life's brightest aspect." Not surprisingly, he does so with wisdom, grace, and power.

Note: All quotations from the liner notes to "Love Drum Talk".

Drums of Passion
by Baba Olatunji / Audio CD / Published 1990

Reviewed by Doug Kane dougkane@cruzio.com. This is the great granddaddy of them all. As it says in the liner notes, "From all indications, it is probably the first African recording in stereophonic sound in the United States." Amazingly, it continues to be possibly the most widely available recording of African percussion today.

Babatunde Olatunji needs no introduction. He is one of THE elders of the African community, and his tireless sharing of his knowledge and wisdom over the past 40 plus years is legendary. While Baba has recorded many fine albums and CDs over the years, he has largely avoided participation in the greed and hypocricy of the music industry in favor of more direct interaction, travelling the world teaching workshops. Therefore, it is difficult for us to imagine today just how popular and groundbreaking "Drums of Passion" was. It was one of the biggest selling albums of its day. Olatunji and his Drums and Passion was a highly sought after act, and was one of the featured performers at John F. Kennedy's inaugeration. Bob Dylan sang about Baba on his "The Freewheeling Bob Dylan" album ("What I want to know Mr. Football Man, is what do you do about Martin Luther King? Willie Mays? OLATUNJI?) John
Coltraine came to Harlem to study at the Olatunji Center for African Music. And Baba himself became a leading voice in the civil rights movement, becoming close with both Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X (but that's another story).

In his later years Baba has become an ambassador for African drumming in general, playing rhythms from all over the continent, and mixing different styles from different regions, with the djembe that was brought to him by Papa Ladji Camara when Ladji came to this country with
Les Ballet Africains, and stayed on as a part of Baba's company (before going on to record, teach and perform on his own) being prominently featured.

But Drums of Passion is album that harks back to Baba's youth, growing up in Ajido, Nigeria. It was recorded before Baba had ever heard of a djembe. As Professor Akin Akiwowo writes in the liner notes, "The selection of songs and African rhythmic renditions in this recording definitely belong to a repertoire of the long ago and present day Nigeria. ... Olatuniji has brought back to remembrance certain songs and cult rhythms of traditional significance in his boyhood days and generations ago ... ." Baba himself was an emerging giant, full of the energy of a young man on a mission. He was close enough to his youth growing up in Ajido that the rhythms still resonated deeply within him, yet he was already successfully a part of American culture, having been president of the student body of Morehouse College. Thus he was uniquely situated to bridge the gulf between the two cultures.

One of the amazing things about Drums of Passion is that the dense layers of sound are created by just four musicians. Accompanying Baba are three other musicians of great renown: Baba Hawthorne (Chief) Bey; Montigo Joe (Roger Sanders); and Baba Taiwo Duval. Complementing Baba's unique voice are a group of nine female singers. They combine to create
a powerful and mesmerizing sound invoking the spirit of the past, yet vibrantly alive in the present.

The album opens with the classic "Akiwowo (Chant to the Trainman)". A simple, yet infectious Samba beat slowly builds as the musicians enter one by one. One can not help to start to move to the beat. Baba and the singers praise the trainman Akiwowo, saying "thank you for bringing
me safely home to the house of my father."

Next is "Oya" an invocation of primitive fire. This is an instrumental piece. The drumming begins slowly, and builds slowly as the fire crackles into life and becomes blazingly powerful, invoking the energy inherent in fire.

Next is "Odun de! Odun de! (Happy New Year)". This is simply one of the most beautiful songs, rhythms and dances I have ever heard or seen. I don't know what more to say than that.

"Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (Drums of Passion)". Yes indeed, this is the root of Santana's "Jingo". Both the voices of the drums and the voices of the singers create a musical conversation. This song is "Drums of Passion."

"Kiyakika (Why Do Your Run Away)". As the liner notes say "With the changing tempo of life in Africa today, many are in a hurry to get somewhere. People are in a hurry to get rich quick; to travel by fast-moving vehicles; and to develop the country speedily. Friends no long have time to stop, salute, and gossip as before. Instead they wave to one another at a distance." This song captures that frenetic pace, and Baba's frustration with the chagning times.

"Baba Jinde (Flirtation Dance)". The name says it all. In this piece, the drums are pushed along by the bell and shekere, reaching yet another crescendo.

"Oyin Momo Ado (Sweet as Honey)". This beautiful song features Baba on "thumb piano," with the drums and voices blending in harmony.

"Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder)". This is an invocation to Shango, one of the Orishas most honored by drummers. It opens with a call and response between Baba and Chief Bey (showing off his operatic vocal chords). It goes on to perhaps the most powerful drumming on the album.

As I read over this review, I realize that it does not capture the timeless power of this album. The drumming is not exceptionally fast or complicated. However, the music evokes an incredibly deep reservoir of spirit and energy that transcends time and place.

This is a must have item.

Drums of Passion: Beat of my Drum
by Babatunde Olatunji / Audio CD / October 1990

Review of "Beat of My Drum" & "Invocation" below by Doug Kane

Drums of Passion: Invocation
by Babatunde Olatunji / Audio CD / Published January 1989
with Sound Samples

Reviewed by Doug Kane dougkane@cruzio.com These two albums capture the two sides of the "modern" Olatunji. He performs both with an electric band and just with drummers and dancers.
The Beat captures the joyous cross-cultural feel of the former, while The Invocation wonderfully captures the deeper spiritual nature of the latter.

Culled from sessions recorded by Mickey Hart at Fantasy Studios from January 3-14, 1986, (just after opening for the Grateful Dead at the Oakland Coliseum on New Years Eve of 1985 - my first introduction to Baba, and, in fact, to African percussion), these albums were released
on Rykodisc three years later. Each feature 15 percussionists, including Sikiru Adepoju, Sanga of the Valley, and Gordy Ryan, the three musicians who have been Baba's main collaborators over the past 10 years.

The Beat adds the electric guitar of Suru Ekeh and Carlos Santana, to create a unique and joyous sound. The Invocation is all percussion, each song being an invocation to a different spirit. Powerful stuff.

DRUMS OF PASSION: THE BEAT
The Beat opens with the anthemic "Beat of my Drum." "When the world hears the beat of my drum, then the spirit of the gods will descend." The song evokes a powerful sense of universiality: "The world is the same, everywhere you go, the sun and the rain, the moon and the stars, the ocean and the wave, the beasts and the birds" As it does throughout both of these albums, the talking drum of Sikiru Adepoju weaves in and
out of the rhythm on this song.

"Loyin Loyin (Honey, Honey)" is a prayer. "Friends let's join together so that our world can be better for ever. That it will be like honey." This song is marked by its distinctive opening and closing break, and the flutelike midi guitar played by Carlos Santana.

Ife L'oju L'aiye (Love is the Greatest Thing in the World)" The title says it all. Played to the rhythm that Baba teaches in his workshops as "the rock rhythm" it's the basic groove most familiar to us who grew up with the backbeat.

The a capella version of the classic "Akiwowo (Chant to the Train Man") is beautiful. The instruments then come in one by one, beginning with Gordy on the jun-jun and featuring some sweet melodic touches added by Carlos and Suru Ekeh on the guitar (many of the licks that you would swear is Carlos are played by the late, great multi-instrumentalist Suru (Frank) Ekeh). All along the drums keep percolating along. These albums are full of musicians who can play blistering solos, yet instead the music is crafted so the whole is more important than any of the parts.

"Se Eni A Fe L'amo -- Kere Kere". Kere Kere is another song about love. "Kere" has a slinky 6/8 feel. The words say "You are the only one who knows the one you love. You don't always know the one who loves you. When arguments or disagreements occur between two friends, songs become proverbs. Herald the news. What the world needs now is love. How to love indiscrimately. Love is a lifetime process." The music says even more. A simply gorgeous song.

DRUMS OF PASSION: THE INVOCATION
These songs are all invocations of different Orisha. Orisha means "one whom Ori has picked out to to create in a manner different from their fellow beings." The Orisha were once human beings who did things of such magnitude and importance that they cannot be forgotten. The Yoruba sing and dance these songs and dances to become possessed by the spirit of the particular Orisha and transformed to a higher spiritual level.
"Ajaja" is the "I am spirit." This is the calling of the ancestral spirits. Baba usually uses this song and dance to open his drum and dance concerts.

"Kori" is the goddess of fertility. The song says "Kori give me a child to dance with, please give me a child to play with."

"Sango" (pronounced "Shango") was first recorded on the original Drums of Passion. Sango is one of the most important Orisha, and many songs are song to him throughout the diaspora.

"Oba Igbo" is another song to Sango.
There are two songs to Ogun, the Orisha of iron and war. "Orere" continues the flowing circular feel of the rest of the CD. "Ogun is in Every Household." The musicians then switch gears four the beautiful song "Ogun La Ka Aiye." ("Ilere", another song to Ogun that Baba often uses to close his shows, both electric and acoustic, originally appeared along with different arrangements of all the songs that ended up on The Beat, on an out of print album called "Dance to the Beat of My Drum", on I believe the Blue Heron label. Another version was included in the later release Drums of Passion: Celebrate Freedom, Justice, and Peace.)

I can't say that I have any deep understanding of the traditional role that the Orisha play in Yoruban life. I just know that when am in need of inspiration, I put on The Invocation. I never fail to find it.

African Tribal Music & Dances Audio CD (July 22, 1993)

African Drums & Afro-Caribbean Grooves Audio CD

Chinese Bamboo Flute Music Audio CD

The Drummer's Path MUSIC
by Sule Greg Wilson

Drummer's Path Compact Disc
Drummer's Path Audio Cassette

In an engaging and anectodal style, Sule presents twelve principles of traditional performance (breath, posture, orchestration, dance), and traces the history of African American percussion. Chapters include "Health and the Drummer", "Women and Traditional Drumming". Introduction by Babatunde Olatunji. With instruments and talent from around the world, Sule gives spirited performances that document the path of the drum, with gourd, bell, ashiko, conga and djembe orchestras, samba, rumba, lamba, mbira, kohl, dumbek and more! Featured are vocalists from famed a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Guinea-Malinke Rhythms & Songs - AUDIO CD
Famoudou Konate & Hamana Dan B

Vol. 2-Percussions of Guinee [IMPORT] Audio CD
with Hadj Djeli, Sory Kouyate

Mickey Hart's: Planet Drum - Audio CD
by Mickey Hart, Frederic Leberman

Mickey Hart's: SuperLingua - Audio CD

The Healing Drum : African Ceremonial and Ritual Music/Cassette: Yaya Diallo / Audio Cassette / Published 1989
The Healing Drum : African Cremonial and Ritual Music/Compact Disc: Yaya Diallo / Hardcover / Published 1994
Bayaka : The Extraordinary Music of the Babenzele Pygmies and Sounds of Their Forest Home
by Louis Sarno, Jeffrey Charno (Producer), Stephen Clabattoni (Editor/Artist), Bernie Krause (CD/Photobook)

Best of Kodo - Japanese Taiko Drumming - Audio CD

Kodo - Ibuki - More Japanese Taiko Drumming - Audio CD

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