Search - Various Artists :: Anthology Of World Music: Africa - Music From Rwanda

Rwanda is a word that is almost always prefaced by "war-torn" in modern America, but this recording puts a voice on the name. Part of the essential UNESCO anthology that is slowly being reissued on Rounder, this collection of field recordings made in Rwanda in the mid-'50s shows the music of the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa in stark, unedited tracks. They explore the solo and group voices, the dancers and drummers, the social songs performed on strings, shepherds flutes, and sanza or likembe (often referred to as "thumb piano"). Though the recordings were originally conceived of as an educational project and meant to be accompanied by research notes and papers, the liner notes included here are highly descriptive and easily read by nonacademics. --Louis Gibson