CD Review: Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda

[Klezcorner <Klezcorner...>]

the following is George Robinson's review of the "Abayudaya" CD in the 
current issue of The Jewish Week. The response has been terrific, and 
deservedly so!
Orders for this CD place through Dec 1 will receive the special price of 
$14.98 with free shipping within the USA.
Simon
Hatikvah Music
323) 655-7083


"Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda" (Smithsonian Folkways).

In more than five years of writing this column, I have reviewed Jewish

reggae, Jewish salsa, Jewish punk and who-knows-what-else. This is the first

(and I suspect the only) time I have ever encountered Jewish Afro-pop.

Unless we are talking about the ill-fated attempt to reroute Zionist

aspirations to the then English colony there, Jews and Uganda don't turn up

in the same sentence too often. But there is a tribe, called the Abayudaya,

who have openly embraced a Jewish identity for a century, and this recording

of their musical traditions is the nicest surprise I can imagine, a lively,

melodic collection of settings of Jewish texts unlike any other. Ranging

from hand-drum-driven "Hiwumbe Awumba" through a sweetly harmonized children

's choir version of "Mi Khamokha," this CD is pure joy from start to finish.

If you like King Sunny Ade, you'll definitely get this. Available from

Hatikvah Music (www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083).  Rating: 5 stars.

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