Track Listing

1. Ajaja
2. Kori
3. Sango
4. Oba Igbo
5. Orere
6. Ogun la Ka Aiye

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15509 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

From the Label
This is the second new recording by percussion master Babatunde Olatunji for Mickey Hart's series "The World." In contrast to the preceding DRUMS OF PASSION: THE BEAT, which featured a modern rock-guitar sound lent by Carlos Santana, THE INVOCATION features eleven percussionists and seven vocalists in a work of rhythm and rapture. A review in Musician said of the album, "Its immense sound scalds you until you feel the humidity coming out of the ground....It resonates like a polyrhythmic high mass."

Olatunji's association with Rykodisc was brought about by producer and Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, who was a Long Island high schooler when he first experienced Olatunji's magic. As he told Downbeat: "Olatunji was the one who turned me on to talking drums; he was a big influence on me. Now here I am almost 30 years later, playing with him and producing him. It's full circle."

Customer Reviews

Great Rhythms
This CD features Babatunde Olatunji at his best. Some people may be familar with Olatunji and his style, but this CD is very different from the music he usually performs. It is more primordial, spiritual and emotionally charged. The music on here is an invocation to the Orshas, the Yoruba Gods, who were trnspoted across the Atlantic where their followers formed the religions of Santeria, Candomble and the like. I found the invocation to Sango (Shango in the Carribean), the masculine Orisha of warfare, storms and fire, to be particularly moving. The emotion with which Olatunji performs on this CD is amazing. I am impressed with this CD. It is very moving, but I also must remind you that the music on this CD does hold considerable religious significance to the Yoruba people, and as such deserves a good deal of respect.

Field Craft
Micky Hart is exposing a lot of people to what was once called field recordings. I am down with that! And he is fortunate to have the conduit that enables him to carry on his passion.

I was able to go to Africa on several mission projects and believe me, I know the excitment he is enjoying by bringing the listener into the root of percussion.

Drumming is akin to exploration... it never ends, the deeper one gets into it, the deeper it gets. Think of the concept of folding space or wurm holes. It is a profound mental and physical experience.

But as my nom de plume suggests... I'm a bassist. As a percussionist with a string to pluck, my study into percussion has enabled me to become a much better bassist. For that I am deeply indebted to the drum, and will remain an ardent searcher into the realm of the monophone. Thanks Mickey! Your research and network is expanding the vocabulary of many. We are listening.