Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler has come to be regarded as a modern parable about the plight of the artist in the midst of social unrest and political restrictions. In Mathis der Maler, Hindemith violated some of the principles of music composition that the Nazi regime had already legislated for the Reich and thus, by extension, set himself up for the same kind of criticism as the protagonist of the work. Not a roman a clef or any sort of thinly disguised autobiography, the opera serves a dual purpose in portraying the story found in the libretto and also in serving as a kind of socio-political commentary that would not be lost on the censors.—Opera Today
A Land of Drummers is actually a compilation of songs from six other albums on the Village Pulse label: Mapathe Diop's Sabar Wolof: Dance Drumming of Senegal, Boubacar Diagne's Tabala Wolof: Sufi Drumming of Senegal, Mamadou Ly's Mandinka Drum Master, Malang Mane's Balanta Balo: Talking Wood of Casamance, Amadu Bamba's Drums of the Firdu Fula, and Saikouba Badjie's Bougarabou: Solo Drumming of Casamance. Two songs from each are represented on this album, and good choices were made as to the presence of each track. The best works from each album were definitely chosen…