Abatwa (The Pygmy): Why Did We Stop Growing Tall?

Following recordings made in Vietnam, Cambodia and Mali, the fourth album in Ian Brennan's Hidden Musics series finds the indefatigable producer stopping off in Rwanda to record the Abatwa pygmies, whom he describes as ‘one of the most marginalised, voiceless and endangered populations in Africa.’ Their official name in post-genocide Rwandan politics translates as ‘the people who were left behind because of the facts of Rwandan history.’ In Brennan's characteristic style, these are earthy, unmediated recordings of non-professional musicians singing and playing simple, rough-hewn songs about their daily lives. There's a punk-like rawness; as a producer, his only judgement call seems to be to capture authenticity. The singers accompany themselves on rudimentary instruments such as the one-string umuduli with enthusiasm rather than virtuosity. A husband and wife team sing ‘Ihoorere’ (Stop Crying Now) while their infant cries in the background. A 67-year-old woman leads her sons in a family choir singing ‘Urwanikamiheto’ (War Song). Yet it would be wrong to romanticise the Abatwa as untouched by the modern world: a 19-year-old female rapper intones ‘Umwana W’umuhanda' (The Child from the Streets) to a battery-operated loop machine emitting crude electronic bleats and another performs with his one-string umuduli fed, Congotronics-style, through a distortion amp. Strange, but oddly uplifting.