286: Burundi: Musiques Traditionnelles, by Various Artists

Various Artists (Burundi)
Burundi: Musiques Traditionnelles (1967/1988)
Original: 11 tracks, 32 minutes;
CD reissue: 17 tracks, 65 minutes
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Once recorded music really took off as a widespread and household form of entertainment in the West, the first way that people really heard the music of other cultures was in the form of field recordings. Field recordings are, understandably, music made ‘in the field,’ a slightly over-academic way of saying that the music is captured in its intended context as opposed to being recreated in the acoustically precise but culturally sterile recording studio. These sort of recordings were often made of traditional music, primarily for the use of anthropologists and ethnomusicologists for close study of the cultures of which they represent, but they quickly found a market among non-academic listeners who wanted to explore the world in sound. These field recordings marked one of the earliest inklings of the future phenomenon of ‘world music.’

Ocora (now Ocora Radio France) was – and remains – one of the most valuable sources for listener-friendly field recordings of music from all over the world with an astounding breadth of catalogue, releasing albums since the 1950s. One of the releases from those early years was Burundi: Musiques Traditionnelles and – and this is a claim for which I have absolutely no proof – I would guess that it is probably the most popular album they’ve made. Certainly one of the most influential – as I’ve mentioned before (now that I think of it, I should have left this nugget of revelation for this post, but I obviously didn’t think that far ahead), it was this album that introduced the world to the royal karyenda drummers whose sound went on to inform the music of Joni Mitchell and new wave artists such as Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow.

This album is more than just drumming, however, and features all sorts of traditional Burundian styles. Almost every track shows off a different instrument or ensemble – inanga (trough zither), umuduri (musical bow), indingidi (one-string fiddle), ikembe (lamellophone) and an unfortunately unnamed but very cool fife-like flute are all featured, as well as several different vocal techniques. It’s these vocal styles that I find the most intriguing, as some of them sound unlike anything else. Two of the tracks feature greeting songs by young girls, one solo and one a duet; the sound that they make is astounding. I think it is like yodelling – where the voice flips from chest voice to head voice and back – but very rapidly and without changing what note is being sung, for a really uncanny effect. When the two girls sing in a very close canon, the effect is magnified so much more. Then there are two tracks demonstrating the ubuhuha technique that I honestly have no idea how it’s made, and even less idea on how to describe it. Maybe it could involve buzzing one’s lips into a cupped hand, or perhaps singing into a reed-like leaf? I would love to know.

With the near-ubiquity of produced and polished studio recordings for music all around the world, field recordings are falling out of fashion for their dry, academic gaze. Nevertheless, these on-the-ground recordings offer a very different way to listen to, experience and appreciate music, including styles and instruments that have never been (or can never be) recorded otherwise. If you’re looking for a place to start, the Ocora Radio France catalogue is a wonderful resource, and Burundi: Musiques Traditionnelles is a particular highlight.

109: Les Tambourinaires du Burundi, by the Drummers of Burundi

The Drummers of Burundi (Burundi)
Les Tambourinaires du Burundi (1992)
1 track, 31 minutes
Bandcamp • Spotify • iTunes

Watching the Drummers of Burundi is a spectacle that is hard to forget. You hear them before you see them – a distant booming coming closer and closer, joined by the high-pitched clacking of wood-on-wood as it gets nearer. Then you see them and it’s even more striking than that powerful sound had you expecting. A big bunch of willowy, muscular men in beautiful robes of white, red and green to match the Burundian flag, each with a gigantic wooden drum on their head, playing their infectious beat with all their might. Now there’s an indelible image.

They set their karyenda drums in a semi-circle with one (painted with the flag) in the middle for soloists, and the energy levels never let up. They keep their beat going as long as you’d like, the drummers taking turns to play different aspects of the rhythms, to solo on the main drum and to impress with acrobatic flips, jumping splits and dancing with spears and shields. At the end, they load the drums back on to their heads and troop away, never letting that beat waver. There are few musical experiences that can match watching – and feeling – the Drummers of Burundi.

And so we come to this album. It was recorded in Real World Studios in 1987, completely live – to be honest, there isn’t really any other way to record 20 drummers of this particular might. As such, you don’t hear anything that wouldn’t be there in a live performance, although there isn’t the wonderful incoming and outgoing head-bound drumming; I guess it wouldn’t have the same effect on record. There is a short call-and-response to start, the leader asking the others if they are ready and worthy to play these royal and sacred drums. Everyone decides that, yes, they’re pretty sure they are and they get to it. It is a beat that will get all the way through your body (if you play it loud enough) and the ever-evolving rhythmic patterns will do something pleasant to your brain, too. As it’s a live performance, it’s presented as one long, unbroken track – what is a little strange that it is only 30 minutes, considering that they can go for much, much longer.

If you’ve never heard the Drummers of Burundi before but the music on this album sounds familiar to you, you might be right. This album was not the first time the music of the karyenda drummers was heard in Europe, and it was most famously included in the Ocora album Musiques du Burundi in 1968. That recording became a sort of cult hit in certain circles and ended up being one of the most unlikely sources of inspiration among new wave and post-punk musicians. The rhythms of what was called ‘the Burundi Beat’ became infused into the work of bands such as Bow Wow Wow and Adam and the Ants.

Those groups had their own thing going on, but their rhythms just don’t match the Drummers for the sheer intensity and awesomeness. Of course this album is never going to fully capture what these musicians do live – the power of their beats and the chest-rattling reverberations can only ever be experienced within earshot of the actual drum – but it certainly captures a little bit of what they’re about and the mesmerising qualities of their sound.