Mesmerizing field recordings from Botswana. Producer/recordist/Grammy winner Ian Brennan ventured to an end-of-the-road location to document songs sung in Taa, a rich language on the verge of extinction. This captivating music is created by solo and layered voices, handclaps, found percussion and thumb piano. Shamanic, ghostly ballads from the farthest reaches of Southern Africa. The Taa language in Botswana possesses 112 sounds, the most of any language in the world. In contrast, English has approximately 44 sounds, Italian 32. But there are only around 2,500 Taa speakers remaining and the language is dying. The songs on this album are mostly mantras? prayers that repeat the same words or phrases over and over again. The song titles tell entire stories by themselves, and with the Taa language?s heavy use of click consonants, the sounds carry the meaning as much as the words.
Tracks:
1. Trance Induction Song / GONXLAE [81], vocal & thumb piano
2. I Am Lost (The Spirits Guide Me Home) / XHASHE [83], vocal
3. Chase the Evil Spirits Away / Shaman elders, vocals & handclaps
4. Protection from the Bees / QOBA [56], vocal
5. The Bushmen Are Starving (We?ve Been Made Poor by the Rich) /KEBA [36], vocal & foot stomps
6. We Must Give Thanks / NTEBOGANG [29], vocal & plastic-cup percussion
7. The Spirit Travels at Night / DUXWA [69] and GONXLAE [81], dueling thumb pianos & vocals
8. We Have Been Abandoned by the World / TXAO [25], RUDY [23], KAGISO [22], vocals & beatbox
9. Kudu (?Tortoise?) Dance / ?THE DOCTOR? [36], vocals & water pipe percussion
10. Prayer for Food (Miracle Manifestation) / TSAA [63], vocal, whistling & thumb piano
11. Our Ancestors Show the Way / NTEBOGANG [29], vocal & sheet metal percussion
12. Calling Our Loved Ones Back from the Dead / XHASHE [83], vocal & thumb piano
13. My Culture is the Most Beautiful / KAGISO [22], vocal & handclaps
14. We Are the People of Love / QASA [29], vocal & plastic garbage-can drum
15. This Is the Land Where I Come From / NTEBOGANG [29], vocal & handclaps
16. Preparation to Heal / DUXWA [69], vocal & thumb piano
