Book: Ancient Text Messages of the Yoruba Bata Drum

[bubudi]

Villepastour, Amanda (2010). Ancient text messages of the Yoruba bata drum: cracking the code.
SOAS musicology series. 173pp. Burlington VT: Ashgate. ISBN-13: 978-0754667537

this book looks at yoruba bata music and its relationship to yoruba speech. examples are given on the companion cd.


dr amanda villepastour is the present curator of the museum of musical instruments in phoenix, arizona. her phd thesis titled bata conversations: guardianship & entitlement narratives compared the drum systems in nigeria and cuba. with this book she compares 3 different nigerian yoruba drum systems: dundun, bata and omele meta. the omele meta is a relatively new instrument consisting of 3 bata strapped together to be played by one person, much like the way 3 tumbadores are played in afro-cuban music. the way sounds correspond to drum strokes are demonstrated and previous literature on the subject is reviewed. she explains that the dundun speaks the everyday yoruba language while the bata can only be properly understood by someone properly initiated.

available at ashgate and amazon.

[James]

this book looks very interesting, it sure got a very excited review on Amazon, where it's available: