African Dances is a continuous work for solo clarinet and wind ensemble consisting of five individual sections. The basis for the piece is the clarinet's construction from the wood of the African blackwood tree, and its subsequent development into the instrument we know today. Each movement draws on different aspects of Pan-African music, ranging from the styles and forms of the African choral tradition, through to the complex cross-rhythms and patterns that characterise so much of the music of Africa.
African Dances is recorded by Linda Merrick, with the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra, conducted by James Gourlay, on Polyphonic CD QPRM 137D.