Roots!! African Drums

One of the earliest entries in the field of world music in the digital era, Roots!! from the National Percussion Group of Kenya, led by George Menoe, covers the majority of the Kenyan percussion sound. The liner notes lost a bit in translation and appear to be a bit behind the times, but the basic gist can be derived, and it is the music that should be the focus anyway. The disc begins with a piece depicting a witch doctor's sacrificial slaughter of an animal. It then moves on to a piece imitating bird and animal calls, and a vocal piece dealing with trees. The final three works are a women's dance, a workday-ending song, and a dance from the "fearless Masai tribe." What is amazing here is not the interlocking nature of hits that is common to so much of African music, but the interaction of the interlocking with the sheer speed of the individual drummers. Between the two aspects, the volleying effect of the group is amplified, generally without overlap and an almost constant tone begins to emerge in some places from the sheer raising frequency of beats. In some ways very mildly reminiscent of the vocals of the Muungano National Choir, and in other ways mildly reminiscent of the various master drummers of West Africa (Mustapha Tettey Addy among them), this album from the National Percussion Group of Kenya should be heard at least once by anyone that regularly deals in the field -- the authenticity of the music can be determined by the listener; the important part is that it's listened to in the first place. ~ Adam Greenberg