Source: Bandcamp Daily.
“Whoever heard of a tambourine, a fan, and a clarinet all playing together?! Well, here we go again!” Such is Bilal Abdurahman’s gleeful declaration midway through his 1971 album Sound, Rhythm, Rhyme & Mime for Children, and it’s a fair question. What child would have heard this unusual combination? Or the one-string Ethiopian violin, the Ugandan ennaga, or the rhythm you can make with just a hammer and a saw? Abdurahman saw a whole world of sound beyond the horizon of traditional children’s music, and he made it his mission to guide his listeners through that world.