Burundi Drums

 

Inspired by the African odyssey of our good friend Ernie, I recently landed in Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world. Burundi is located in East Africa and is surrounded by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Congo. It was formerly a Belgian colony and has still not recovered from the bloody ethnic conflicts at the end of the last century.

Musically, the Royal Drummers Of Burundi are typical, traditionally playing for ceremonies such as birth and death. In principle, a leading drum determines the rhythm, which is followed by many other drums. 

It is thanks to Malcolm McLaren, who managed Adam and the Ants in the late 70s, that this percussive sound found its way into the punk scene. With their mixture of tribalism, rockabilly guitars and a thoroughly conceptualised outfit, they were the big thing between punk and pop.

The same concept worked a second time when McLaren poached part of the band to promote Bow Wow Wow under his direction. The same Burundi beat, only instead of Adam Ant, thirteen-year-old Annabella Lwin took over the vocals. 

Both bands didn't change the world, but they wrote formative songs that I would describe as classic new-wave pop.