Healing Session

Nigerian drum master Babatunde Olatunji was a phenomenon in the early-1960s when his landmark Drums of Passion inspired such diverse figures as John Coltrane, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King. His traditional Yoruban tribal drums and chanting choruses fell out of the American public's favor by the end of the decade, and it wasn't until the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart recorded with him in 1988 that the drummer was again in the spotlight. Recorded in 1992, before Olatunji began to lose his long fight with diabetes (he died in April 2003), Healing Session is a timeless and elegant exhibition of voice and drum's beauty. This traditional meditation music seeps into listener's subconscious and hypnotizes with its dancing poly-rhythms and stirring group chants. Ranging from the almost party-like "Emi Ka Sai D’arugbo" to the scary and stark "Mystery Of Love" to the downright stirring "Primitive Fire," a lot of emotional ground is covered, proving that this ancient music is far from primitive. --Tad Hendrickson