Eze-Nri Royal Drummers Vol 1

This is a live recording of an investiture ceremony of an Eze-Nri king. The Nri kingdom of the Igbo people is located in the south-east of what is now modern post-colonial Nigeria, and it is one of Nigeria's oldest traditional kingships. The traditional ceremony recorded here is performed on drums, a large alou ogene (two-man cowbell), and wooden flute; and is probably similar to how it would have been performed at the time of Christ, or even prior to any Christian influence.

While the sleeve notes give a useful history of the Nri Kingdom they do not explain the relevance of each of the musical segments of the investiture. Consequently the listener is left uninformed, and possibly bewildered, as they listen to random extracts of mostly very similar drumming, scraper, flute and vocal interjections. Curiously the cowbell seems to be missing. The notes also laconically confirm that it is not going to set modern club dance floors alight. Fair to say that this recording might be primarily of interest to ethnomusicologists.