Omar's Prayer from Zen Rant by Tony Vacca

Omar was a talibe, which is a young student of Islam in his native Senegal. But like many talibes, instead of studying the Koran, he was forced to sing his prayers in the streets of the capital city, and then return back to his "school" and turn over all his earnings. I met Omar as he came to one of the capital's neighborhoods. His singing was so transportive that we invited him to record it. So what you hear is Omar's original prayer, Massamba Diop on tama drum, and me playing percussion and telling what I knew of Omar's story.

Tony Vacca has become a true “rhythm nomad,” incorporating a world of percussion music and instruments to create something… all his own.

Over the course of his career he has made a habit of pushing the already adventurous conventions of World Music into new territory, both as a soloist and as the leader of his World Rhythms Ensemble.