Voices of Forgotten Worlds:
Traditional Music of Indigenous Peoples
two CDs & book (Ellipsis Arts)
(1993)
limited availability

Voices Of Forgotten Worlds focuses on the traditional music of various indigenous peoples. The 34 tracks included here -- be they songs of Tuvans, Ainus, Kanaks, Inuit, Ladakhis, pygmies, Kree, Kayapo or Navajo -- are powerful, transporting and resonate with a spirit, energy and presence that simply don't exist in Western industrialized music. As we listen to the otherworldly overtones of the Tuvan throat singers or the Garifuna's "Parranda Dance" pounded out on hollowed-out mahogany trees, the harmonies, rhythms and tones of these songs mesmerize with the suggestion of different realities and ancient traditions, and haunt us with the possibility that some of these cultures might not survive the next few decades. A nicely illustrated companion volume talks about each of the 28 cultures featured in the CDs, and a portion of the sales of the album go to the United Nations Center for Human Rights to support their work on behalf of the world's indigenous peoples. -- Chris McGowan