Rabiu Ayandokun & His Yoruba Bata Ensemble
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Rabiu Ayandokun & His Yoruba Bata Ensemble

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Discography

1993, Rabiu performed and recorded with Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka in Germany.

Awuja Bello [1983] "Morning Prayer" 1987 Embryo

Yoruba Dundun Orchestra 1990, 1992 & 1995

Terje Isungset “Floating Rhythms”.

Unreleased album with Billy Cobham on Real World.

Alimi & his Apala band and Baba Miliki & his group.

Emperor Jolly Sho & his Juju Music Band
Alhaji “Ahuja” Bello

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Rabiu Ayandokun & His Yoruba Bata Ensemble

The Yoruba Bata ensemble is one of the most complex and powerful cultural systems of Yorubaland in Nigeria. Dating back to the reign of King Shango of the Oyo Kingdom. The Bata drum, along with its song and dance, spread to the Diaspora during the slave trade, where it forms the basis of traditional ritual music from New York to Miami, Cuba to Brazil where it has evolved into many distinct variations. The Yoruba bata preserves and transmits an entire culture within its drumming and dance and the bata drum has influenced every type of drumming from congas, to bongos to drumset. The bata drum mimics the Yoruba language and the prowess of the Yoruba drummer is measured by how much of the drum literature he can recall and play from memory. This poetry consists in part of proverbs, praise names, greetings and traditional prayers, all woven into the drum rhythms.

Rabiu Ayandokun is a master drummer, descending from a long lineage of drummers. Bearing the Ayan prefix on his name, his family traces itself back to the deified ancestor of the drums, Ayan Agalu, a friend and companion of King Shango. Rabiu travels the world performing with his group of drummers and dancers, collaborating and giving workshops.