Villepastour (Curator of Musical Instruments at The MIM, Phoenix, Arizona) presents this first ever academic study of the Southwestern Nigerian drumming tradition known as Yor繳b� b獺t� and its
linguistic properties. B獺t� drumming is derived from an ancient religious tradition in which the drums are used to converse with spirits by using complex tonal variations and rhythms. The
author explores these attributes and how they are perceived linguistically by the listener thus exposing an ancient form of speech surrogacy. This fascinating work, which also includes a cd
containing dozens of examples of b獺t� drumming, is of interest to anyone studying ethnomusicology or linguistics. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
