Search - Garifuna, Ashaninka, Aluku :: The Spirit Cries: Music Of The Rain Forests Of South America & The Caribbean

The voices of our planet

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 04/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The depth of feeling and pure musical emotion on this cd is astounding. The musicians and singers on this cd are, for me, the voices who speak from and for our earth. This music isn't played as a concert, it isn't played to make money, it isn't played for any of the reasons that we in 21st Century Western Culture usually equate music with being "about". It is played just to express the core of human emotion and experience.One of my favorite songs (#11) is performed by a Choco shaman as a way to cure a man's fever. The liner notes say that he shakes a palm frond to exorcise the fever-causing evil spirit out of the man. The palm frond also happens to create a rhythmic sound that comes across beautifully on cd along with the shaman's voice.There are indeed a couple tracks on here that don't do much for me musically but that doesn't matter. The tracks that I love (which are almost all of them) are well worth the cost of this cd. The music on this cd is mostly voice and percusssion oriented. Sometimes they are work songs, used to break up the monotony of jobs like grating cassava root. Sometimes they are healing songs, and sometimes they are ceremonial dance songs, etc... They are always important and give us a deeper understanding of the beauty that exists in the ancient way in which humans used to (and sometimes still do) live."

An Excellent CD

Zekeriyah | Chicago, IL | 01/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD, part of the Library of Congress' Endangered Music Project, is one of the greatest wolrd music CDs anyone could get their hands on. I strongly recommend this CD to anyone interested in the Native Americans of Latin America, or the traditional African-American music of that region.
The music includes songs from the Garifuna ("Black Caribs" of Belize), Choco Indians of Panama and Colombia, Shipibo of Peru, Ashaninka of Peru, Aluku of French Guiana, Wayana of Suriname and Maroons of Jamaica. Quite a diversity of cultures, ranging from Native Americans to the free descendants of African slaves brought over by the colonists. However, all these cultures have similar, and yet distinctly different, musical stylings.
Almost all the music on this CD is "traditional", or at least in the sense that the influence from western culture is minimal to no-existant, so it will please purists. Alot of it cosists of drumming, especially with the Aluku and Maroons, who were influenced heavily by the African music of their ancestors. However, some of the more interesting songs on here include a shamanic healing song and a Garifuna grating song! This is a great CD. I've had mine for over a year and still listen to it frequently.
Anyone interested in anthropology, musical history or Native American/Afro-Carribean culture should definately own a copy. Trust me you'll love it."