"Nearly every page of this book has a vivid photograph illustrating some phase of African musical life... Bebey has provided a number of practical aids to the music-lover who wishes to investigate African music: there is an excellent discography, arranged first by country, then by function (birth, initiation, etc) and then by types of instruments used." -- Choice. "Bebey writes engagingly and informatively about the wide variety of musical instruments scattered over Africa and the ingenuity and inventiveness of the musicians. Music is not simply a part of African life; it is African life." -- Manchester Union Leader.

Francis Bebey was a Cameroonian artist, a musician who released more than 20 albums over his career, and the author of "Agatha Moudio's Son."