By Robert Ambrose

Sometimes it's hard to be optimistic about the future of music. Perhaps it is just the state of the world that evokes pessimism. Today's radio news examined the dramatic rise of fundamentalist Christian sects in the "South," the generally impoverished world of the southern hemisphere, and how this medievalist movement is igniting numerous religious wars. Other stories in the same hour included the horrific bombing in Bali, allegedly committed by Islamic fundamentalists, and the rampant, runaway sniper murders in the DC suburbs. Meanwhile, overarching all, is the testosterone-driven revival of barefaced imperialism: Our government, empire-building and persuading a frightened populace that might makes right. Step in line or else is the motto of the day.

Before this ominous trend in current events, I had been thinking about African music and its status in world culture. Without question music continues to be part of the very fabric of life for Africans, and in remote villages music like that captured in the historic Nonesuch Explorer series is still a pillar of society. The reissue of those recordings on cd is reason to celebrate; they helped catalyze the whole world music phenomenon. Indeed, in the midst of reggae fascination, I chanced upon two Shona mbira recordings in the series, and the course of my musical fascination was transformed. Listening to Shona Mbira Music takes me two decades to another era, when other battles were being fought. In the long years since, most of the musicians recorded by the Explorer sound crews probably have passed into oblivion. More troubling than those acute losses, much of the music itself may be extinct, victim in many cases of the same hegemony that now seeks to control the entire world.

What about modern african pop music: Didn't it evolve from those indigenous forms, displacing the ancient with new art created through collisions with the outside world? Yes, and some of the resulting music is the most exciting in the world!....

(article continues with other reviews)