White African Power

– General Description: Tom Waits might love this album. In Ukerewe, the largest inland island in Africa, producer Ian Brennan held songwriting workshops with members of the Standing Voice albinism community. (Albinos have a genetic condition resulting in little or no pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes).

In East Africa, the belief that albino body parts have magical/demonic powers puts them live in constant fear of being killed and dismembered. Those with albinism routinely avoid eye contact, rarely speak above a whisper, are unaccustomed to dancing, and are often forbidden to sing (even in church). Brennan “encouraged them to write about their experiences and to express what they wanted others to understand about their existence. ”

Most lyrics are written in Kikirewe and Jeeta — dialects officially discouraged and censored following unification of Tanzania in 1964.

The track titles, in essence, say everything and are probably translations of the phrases sung.
Most tracks are just musical ideas or repeated spoken/sung phrases. Play a group of 4 or 6 together to get more of a feel for the music and voice of this group. The tracks are all short except the last one.

– FCC Compliant: YES
– Recommended Tracks: 1, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 21
– Track Reviews:

1. ***(1:01) Life Is Hard - simple song, pure female voice; quite lovely
2. (1:22) We Live In Danger - two repeated phrases with percussion no sound starting 1:15
3. (1:07) This World Has Gone Wrong - syncopated percussion and guitar(?) with vocal above
4. (1:40) I Will Build A Home, Someday - repeated phrase; medium tempo
5. (1:03) Sorrows - simple and pure vocal
6. (1:19) You Are Mine - simple and pure vocal
7. (1:41) Albino Brotherhood - male voice sings and mostly speaks
8. ***(1:07) Tanzania Is Our Country Too - full song, full group
9. (0:43) They Gossiped When I Was Born - repeated phrase (a bit distorted)
10. ***(1:00) I Am a Human Being - simple, female voices (counterpoint)
11. ***(1:26) Peace Has Vanished - female sings (while working?)
12. (0:24) Forward Motion...At Last!!! - repeated phrase (in a mine?)
13. ***(1:07) Disability is Not a Curse - counterpoint
14. (1:05) Mistreated - more melodic (last 5 sec are silent)
15. ***(0:55) Unity Is Our Strength - female voices, simple and strong
16. (1:33) Stigma Everywhere - male voices, mostly calling
17. (1:04) Love Has Left Me - simple, male voice
18. (1:59) Never Forget The Killings - descending motive vocal line, orchestral
19. (0:50) Albino Day - interesting percussion behind voice
20. (0:28) Stop The Murders - repeated line
21. ***(1:25) Who Should We Run To? - simple solo female voice, full melody
22. (1:01) Standing Voices (Once, I Was Abandoned) - group sing (Beck-like); (last 6 sec are silent)
23. (5:24) Happiness - WARNING: starts w/simple song, goes silent at 0:55, then at 3:00 a full song starts and ends at 4:25, then another blink of voice/guitar starts at 4:33 and ends at 5:19