Search - Shaman's Dream :: African Dream

Musical Collage of African Experience

Rebecca Johnson | Washington State | 08/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Sabar drums are special. They are the royal drums of Senegal and are unique to the Senegambia region." ~A Wolof teacher



Shaman's Dream invites you into the world of nature sounds, primal chants, exotic rhythms and soul healing beats. African Dream is a fusion of African music and electronica with warm appeal.



Rakandao - Hearing the Wolof language of Senegal for the first time was a beautiful experience. Abdou Mbaye sings a blessing to his brother from the heart. I find it difficult to sit still while listening to this track, there is something very spiritual and healing about the way African music makes your body move. This track and track eight seem to especially inspire the body to move in unique ways.



Morani Warrior - A song about the rights of passage Masi boys go through when they enter manhood. Children laugh in the distance as men sing and seem to be controlling their breath in an interesting way. Sabar Drums (beautiful tall drum) and Bells appear on this track along with a Doun Doun, a double-ended wood bass drum.



Mbira Kosamdela - A song from Zaire that includes the fascinating delicate sounds of the Mbira, a thumb piano made with 22-28 metal keys mounted on wood from the mubvamaropa tree.



Losambo - The sounds of the sea appear with the beats of the Doun Doun creating an oceanic escape with waves washing through vocals by Dido Tshibangu and Donna DeLory. Together their voices create a spiritually reverent mood that is soft and sensual like the movement of the ocean on a calm day.



Je Je Vignin is a lullaby by the women in Benin Togo. It has a comforting and catchy beat with undercurrents of being soothed into sleep. The Okonkolo Cha is the smallest of the bata drums and produces high pitch tones. This song also features the Pandiero which looks like a drum top with brass jinglers like a tambourine.



Ker Kerane is especially soothing and I really love Abdou Mbaye's voice as he sings: "In the morning or in darkness there is always light." Djembe appears on this track and is a drum shaped like a large goblet with a distinctive sound created from playing with bare hands.



Naomba Ukuwe Muzuri is a blessing for Good health in Swahili, a language of East Africa. This track is filled with beautiful nature sounds, whistles, seed pods, raffia, congas, bells, egg shakers, a glass bell and a variety of drums. It is a richly layered song that takes you completely away from reality and into a world where you are listening for each new sound as it approaches. Perhaps you feel a bit like a hunter, searching for sounds.



Entomononi (means birth) stands out as one of the most beautiful tracks on this CD with mystical environments and bells from hundreds of goats being herded across the Masi Mara. This is a chant sung by women in a Masi village on the Serengeti plains of Kenya and it has a joyful exuberance and playful bounce amidst a purity of vocals. Of all the music on this CD, this feels especially spiritual in beauty and seems to have a soul-cooling energy that frees you from everyday contemplation. As if celebrating the magnificence of a new birth, the song feels like it is awakening to the world.



African Dreams is a collage of sound clips recorded during a trip to Africa in 1996. The song draws on your imaginative powers as you see what you are hearing and at times wonder what you are hearing. Lightening crashes across the sky as birds cry, flying against a darkening sky. You are no longer at home, you are in Africa walking along a beach while the sky pours down in tears, you are riding a horse through the veld and you are swimming in a river. Africa calls to you from her heart, to walk barefoot on her sun-drenched soul. I found myself smiling when I heard the lions and so homesick when I heard the rain.



~The Rebecca Review

Lived in Africa for 12 years"