!Kung

(file under: insane field recordings)

I went through a Folkways phase a few weeks ago after stumbling upon a nice little record collection at a local library. I listened to several standard albums of field recordings before I found something unique, The Music of !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, Africa (FW04487).

The !Kung ("!" represents a tongue click) have just two instruments... a beautiful thumb piano that sounds a bit like a vibraphone and an insane single-stringed bamboo fiddle that sounds like death.

Check it out...

01 - !kung - Thumb (Played) Metal Instrument.mp3

13 - !kung - Bamboo Fiddle.mp3

The booklet states that the !Kung are "neither whites nor blacks" but says that they have yellow skin and Mongolian facial aspects. The bushmen also feature some strange genetic conditions such as steatopygia (abnormally large buttocks), Tablier Egyptien (elongated labia) and qhwai-xkhwe (constant erection).

By the way... I also really liked Music of the Magindanao in the Philippines, Vol. 1 & 2 (FW04536) and Songs of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and the Andamans (FW04380).