Regina Carter

Title: Hiwumbe Awumba

Performers: Regina Carter (Violin), Will Holshouser (Accordion), Adam Rogers (Guitar), Chris Lightcap (Bass), Alvester Garnett (Drums/Percussion)

Culture: Abayudaya (Ugandan/Jewish)

Instrumentation: Violin, Accordion, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Percussion

Reaction:

This week, I listened to Regina Carter’s album “Reverse Thread”. I will be talking about the the first track, entitled “Hiwumbe Awumba”. It is a traditional Abayudaya piece, arranged by composer Xavier Davis for Regina Carter’s band. Abayudaya, the “People of Judah” refers to a specific community in Uganda. The members of this community are not of jewish heritage, but practice judaism. Because this is arrangement is for different instrumentation than it was originally intended, a more “authentic version” might be desired. A sample of this can be found here.

I find Regina Carter’s music delightful to listen to and extremely fascinating. It often combines traditional folk music from many sources with Jazz influences. Ms. Carter is an accomplished african-american jazz violinist. She has been on tour many times and even made a performance at The Hartt School last school year. Often, all of the musicians in her band will take jazz style solos, that are played in a stylistically appropriate manner for the piece, making it seem as if it was originally designed for that instrumentation.