Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
is a Central African nation that is closely linked with
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
, geographically, historically and culturally. The drum such as the ''
karyenda'' is one of central importance. Internationally, the country has produced the music group
Royal Drummers of Burundi.
Burundian-Belgian musicians like
Éric Baranyanka from the Burundese royal family,
Ciza Muhirwa and, especially,
Khadja Nin, have more recently gained prominence. Since the music is from the mind and soul, it mainly expresses what the people in Burundi feel and what they think when they beat the drums.
One feature of Burundian men's folk songs is the presence of an ''
inanga'', a type of stringed zither.
Other instruments include:
* Ingoma drums, made from tree trunks
* The umwironge, a type of flute usually made from the stem of an intomvu plant
* The igihuha, a horn made from antelope horn
* The ikinyege, a rattle made from a gourd of the igicuma plant
* The iyebe, a rattle with threaded, dried, hollowed-out inyege fruit pods
* The inzogera, a closed bell classified as an idiophone, similar to the amayugi
* The umudende, a narrow cylindrical bell formed by bending a thin iron sheet into a narrow cylinder, with a hook of metal attached at top
* The ikembe, technically a
lamellaphone consisting of a series of iron
lamellae fixed to a rectangular wooden soundbox
* The indingiti, a stringed instrument classified as a fiddle
* The idono, a musical bow consisting of a string (umurya) supported by a flexible wooden string bearer or bow (umuheto)
Burundi beat
The so-called ''diverse Burundi beat'', filled with distinctive drumming created by Burundi's tribal musicians and recorded by French anthropologists, was used to create unique music by English pop bands
Adam and the Ants and
Bow Wow Wow.
Further reading
Jacquemin, Jean-Pierreh, Jadot Sezirahigha and Richard Trillo. "Echoes from the Hills" 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 608-612. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
References
{{Africa-music-stub