Description

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The Healing Drum traces the extraordinary cultural legacy of the Minianka tribe of West Africa, for whom music serves a sacred, healing function for the individual and society. The authors explore the Minianka view of humanity, music, and the cosmos relative to work, celebration, herbal medicine, dance, trance, initiation, and death.
The first book of its kind, delivering a message of untapped wisdom and power from a little-known culture through the universal medium of music.

About the Author

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Born and raised in Mali, West Africa into the Minianka (Bamana) tribe, Yaya Diallo learned to play balafon and hand drums under the instruction of his grandfather and spiritual mentor, Nangape.

Praise For…

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"The Healing Drum is more than a literary autobiography; it includes considerable ethnographic information about Minianka culture"
— Shaman's Drum

"Together Diallo and Hall have collaborated to produce a text that combines anthropology, sociology, philosophy and music in a potent and thought-provoking read."
— The Jazz Report

"This is not actually a scholarly book, but that is part of its strength: the subjects discussed in Part One, about Minianka culture as a whole, are those covered in standard ethnographic studies."
— Ethnomusicology

"Part two provides examination of the more public role of music as a sacred healing practice in Minianka culture."
— Timothy White, Editor of Shaman's Drum

"I have been searching for an authentic, traditional CD with chanting and singing, and now I have finally found it!"
— Body Mind Spirit Magazine, October 2003