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| Details | | Distributor: | City Hall | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | DDD |
Album Notes
This is a multi-channel Super Audio CD playable only on Super Audio CD players.
Personnel includes: Babatunde Olatunji (vocals, percussion).
Recorded at CBS Studios, New York, New York between August and October 1959. Includes liner notes by Akin Akiwowo, Babatunde Olatunji, Tom Terrell.
Way before King Sunny Ade or Fela & Afrika 70 brought African music to American ears, there was Babatunde Olantunji's DRUMS OF PASSION. Produced by John Hammond and Teo Macero in 1959 for Columbia Records, it has never been out of print. This is quite a feat considering that this music consists strictly of traditional African drumming and accompanying chants. DRUMS OF PASSION is not a "field" recording however. Each of its eight substantial tracks is a spaciously recorded exhibition of crack African musicianship. Still, the mainly dignified tenor of the proceedings isn't quite as wild as the samba-mad BLACK ORPHEUS soundtrack, another 1959 recording that introduced real world rhythms to an intrigued Europe and United States. Still, it remains to this day a perfect introduction to authentic African roots music, a necessary reality check against the exotica of the late '50s.
Industry Reviews
...Full-on drumming, singing, shaking, healing, and praying...
NAPRA Review (11/01/2002)
3.5 stars out of 5 -- [With] theatrical percussion compositions overlaid with catchy choral singing....They're plenty musical on their own terms...
[A] classic....DRUMS OF PASSION is an important reminder of who we really are -- of that primordial rhythm that's still deep within us, pulsing with each heartbeat.
Olatunji frequently drafted a vivacious, disparate ensemble of musicians and vocalists to contribute to his recordings....By its very nature, his music is designed to be performed by large groups - it is this communal input that gives DRUMS OF PASSION its infectious vitality adn relentlessly entertaining energy.
Blending tribal rhythms and call-and-response singing of his homeland with elements of American blues and jazz, Olatunji celebrated tradition, yet redefined it for the new world.
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