The rainforest sometimes provides a living backdrop to the field recordings for the film <em>Oka! </em>A documentary on ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno, the music for the soundtrack CD was recorded where the movie was filmed, among the Bayaka (Pygmies) of the Central African Republic. The music weaves like sunlight passing through tree branches and glistening on running streamsindeed, the Bayaka drums are fashioned from giant tree roots and cupped hands on water sometimes make rhythm. As with much traditional African music, the vocals and beats are complex and richly intertwined. Sarno spent three decades among the Bayaka, becoming perhaps the world's leading authority on their culture. If Lavinia Currier's film is as interesting as the music on the CD, it should represent a fascinating journey into one of humanity's early and enduring cultures.
