Bottles beaten with nails, pennywhistles, homemade ukeleles and lyrics about stress, AIDS and even a rebellion sparked by child sacrifice — the music captured on this disc is nothing if not “real.” Recorded in the Tonga’s remote area of Zambia, these 15 tracks are rich story-songs with minimal, but effective, instrumentation. The obvious language barrier is mitigated by excellent liner notes, and thanks to the exceptional recording quality, the inescapable wistfulness that permeates the music comes through quite clearly.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2004.