The Southeast African country of Malawi is a land of many cultures: Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuko, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, and Ngonde. As a result, any single comprehensive CD portrait of Malawian music is not possible. On
Music Tradition of Malawi
, a generous sample of this country's complex and heterogeneous cultural identity is presented. All of its 20 tracks are outstanding, including
"Ulimba: Mama Wo,"
where gourd-resonating 21-key xylophones known as Ulimba propel a dance in the country's Nsanje district;
"Nyakatangale,"
in which a Malawian musician controls the elastic sounds of a mouth-resonating musical bow with the deftness of any Western virtuoso; and the cyclical melodic sounds of players board-zither on
"Bangwe- Elis."
A part of the
UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music of the World
,
informs the listener while introducing them to the staggering musical diversity of this nation. ~ John Vallier