Chieck
Hamala Diabate & Bob Carlin: From Mali to America (5-String
Productions)
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By
now, everyone knows that the instrument we know as the
banjo had its roots in Africa as the ngoni (hunter's harp).
Right? Still, you don't often hear the two instruments
together. Diabate and Carlin change that with this laid-back
album of truly African-American music. They tackle the
tunes of the different continents separately -- "Cumberland
Gap" and "Djelifily Tounkara" -- as well as mixing styles
in the same piece, as on "Danaya/Jonny Boker." Sitting
under a tree on either side of the ocean, the deliciously
meandering melodies would sound equally wonderful.
The
Afromotive: Scare Tactics (Harmonized
Records)
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"They
tell us to fear /... We say no to their panic tactic /
... We say no to their system of madness."
Singing
in French and English, Ivorian singer Kevin Meyame leads
The Afromotive in some righteously funky and positive
directions. The 9-piece Ashville, North
Carolina-based group takes Fela's legacy seriously, and
uses great grooves to protest political corruption, economic
inequity, violence, and lies. That there's currently plenty
such fodder doesn't diminish the fact that this is solid
music. A notch mellower than brash sound of Antibalas,
The Afromotive are another welcome pin in the map showing
the
spread of
Afrobeat worldwide.
Antonio
Adolfo, Brazil & Brazuka: Destiny (Far
Out Recordings)
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After listening to Destiny, I felt compelled to pull out
Sergio Mendes’ 2006 release Timeless. Adolfo and Mendes
were contemporaries, after all, and their recent releases
both hail back in some ways to that 1960s heyday of their
Brazilian pop stylings. But while Mendes brought in contemporary
artists – most prominently the Black Eyed Peas – to
build a bridge between old and new, Adolfo takes a dramatically
different approach.
On Destiny, Adolfo eschews
contemporary references, pairing the soft vocal harmonies
of sisters Carol Saboya and
Luisa Saboia
with the gently funky guitar of Jose Carlos and Adolfo’s
own keyboards, along with a rich, smooth backing of percussion,
horns, and strings.
Amid
the current flood of re-releases and retrospectives (not
that I have anything against the better ones, mind
you), it’s a fresh approach to have a musician
record fresh takes of the music that was popular nearly
a half-century ago. I’m
not very familiar with Adolfo’s past work; he’s
certainly not as well known as Mendes here in the US.
But his productivity over the years is amazing, and has
resulted
in his compositions being recorded more than 500 times
by artists such as Mendes, Stevie Wonder, Herb Alpert,
even
Earl Klugh!
Of
the ten tracks on this album (or 12, if you download it
from the label), my favorites may be the energetic “SOS
Amazonas” [sample], “Luizão” [sample]
and the “Tudo É Brasil” [sample].
Alas, no lyrics
or song notes are provided with the CD.
Listening
to Destiny, I occasionally think of a 1970s TV theme song,
or expect to hear the music morph
into a rap.
But I respect the decision to keep the music focused
on what it is. The soft, withdrawn vocal style at
first put
me off
with its dated feel, but I’m warming to it.
Yes, it would be easy to mock this music as so much
more Girl-From-Ipanema
elevator schlock, but that’s only the surface.
Just because an album is subdued and doesn’t
include dance remixes doesn’t mean it’s
not great music. If you like the more subtle aspects
of Brazilian music, give
this one a listen.
©2007
Scott Allan Stevens, Earball Media |
