Vol. 2-Drums of Haiti

• Track Listing

Beads of sweat roll from the brows of muscular drummers who never tire. They play the manman, moyen and bebe drums of vodoun, an often misrepresented organized religious and cultural practice that values communion with the land and respect for the community. The rhythms are said to chofe (or heat up) players and listeners alike, inspiring increasingly impassioned drumming and dancing. Folklorist, ethnographer and ethnomusicologist Harold Courlander, known for his important early work documenting the "vast unwritten literature, dances, music" of the Haitian peasants, released these field recordings from the mountain villages of Haiti before nearly any other recordings were available.