Africa: Ceremonial & Folk Music

Around the 2000s DIY producers in Northern Uganda began using FruityLoops to recreate traditional sounds like the vigorous drumming of courtship dances, or the twanging sounds of the Ennanga harp. But judging by the tracks on the 1975 compilation East Africa: Ceremonial & Folk Music, the original slapped just as hard. “Acholi Bwala Dance” is a dizzying barrage of percussion, bass drums, and ankle bells, punctuated by high pitched flutes and ululations, while “Aluar Horns” (from Uganda’s border with DRC) surges and swells, as an ensemble of 60 each add different tones in a trance inducing effect. There are tracks from various parts of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, and it’s interesting to listen out for familiar sounds that you may have heard chopped, twisted, and amped up on some of the Nyege Nyege releases.