Bukona Women’s Group

This powerful collection, recorded by ethnomusicologist Gregory Barz, accompanied his book by the same name, an account of Ugandan community groups (such as choirs and theater ensembles) who began using music to disseminate information about HIV/AIDS. The groups here feature traditional elements of Ugandan music (choral singing, the embaire xylophone) in impassioned songs that cut right to the heart of the matter: the disease has ravaged their country. Where Western prevention methods failed, Barz says songs like these helped reduce the infection rate from 30% to 5% in 15 years.