The drumming of Burundi has exerted a small, persistent influence in pop music since Joni Mitchell used a recording of the drums on her album "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" in 1975. Since then, the deep pulse of the drumming has occasionally shown up on other recordings. On Saturday night, the Drummers of Burundi appeared at Town Hall, attracting a fairly large audience, not all of whom were ethnomusicologists.

The group recently released an album, "Live at Real World" (Real World), and they clearly know how to perform for an audience. They would do well in Atlantic City. The drummers, dressed in green and white costumes, trouped out on stage carrying their large drums on their heads, playing them all the while. The drums, made of roughly carved wood, conveyed a feeling of solidity. The drummers positioned themselves in the shape of a half-moon, with one standing in the middle of the crescent, and then they were off.

Unlike many African drum choirs, which create large edifices of sound out of independent, overlayed rhythms and textures, the Drummers of Burundi stick to just a few rhythms. Four of the 12 drummers kept a constant beat, while the rest of the percussionists, all playing the same figure, varied their rhythms. Phrases were rearranged; a note added or subtracted changed the meaning of the music, and abrupt shifts of feel, all conducted over the same basic beat, added tension. It was blunt and effective music making.

Throughout the show, the drummers danced in choreographed steps, moving around their drums or from side to side. A constant parade of players improvised on the central drum, dancing to the rhythms, leaping or twirling drumsticks in the air or around their necks. It was all a celebration of ability, the sheer pleasure of competitive creativity, and -- strikingly similar to what happens in a jazz jam session -- more virtuosic than sentimental.