I'm
usually the first one to jump on an artist who ignores
the obvious: I rail against West African musicians
who eschew their fantastic drumming tradition in
favor of machine-made beats, or for that matter,
most anyone who embraces electronics at the expense
of the wonderful acoustic traditions of their culture.
I thought about mounting such complaints against
Tomer Yosef's latest offering until I was swept
up in the flood of infectious rhythms and I no longer
cared about such petty complaints.
Yosef
(also of Balkan Beat Box) has made perhaps the ultimate
Middle Eastern party album, fusing ethnic motifs
with deep booming bass, high-velocity rap with dancehall
rhythms. The album defies categorization, drawing
from rock, dub, rai, dancehall, pop, hip hop, Gypsy,
folk, and who knows what else. Bubbling with borderless
energy, the resulting global cocktail may be sung
in Hebrew, but it's intended for the healing (and
dancing) of nations.
More
Tomer Yosef:
myspace
youtube
©2008
Scott Allan Stevens, Earball Media
|
Lani
Singers: Ninalik Ndawi (Dancing
Turtle Records)
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CD/hear samples
You might call it Stone Age pop. The music of the
Lain Singers -- Benny and Maria Wenda -- is rooted
in cultural traditions of West Papua that have,
the album's notes assert, changed little in thousands
of years. Well, except for being colonized by the
Dutch, invaded by the Indonesians, and generally
having their rich resources being exploited by outsiders
as the West Papua natives have been oppressed and
thousands killed in what some have termed genocide.
While that dire reality deserves more attention,
our focus here is on the rare chance to hear the
music of West Papua. Relatively little has been
recorded (with the exception of several other Dancing
Turtle releases), though the listener will certainly
recognize some familiar strains in the Melanesian
roots of the music -- harmonic patterns shared with
Hawaiian and other Pacific island styles. The album
starts out with two guitar and vocal pieces that
share nearly identical music, an odd choice considering
the diversity that appears shortly thereafter in
the hypnotic chant of "Waiyaowa" and the
cyclical harmonies of "Umameke Dearowakod."
As
the group's name suggests, this is essentially vocal
music with the stringed instruments (guitar, bass,
ukulele) playing a supporting role. The voices are
loud and sharp, presumably a style required unamplified
performance (and sounding to my ears not unlike
shapenote [http://fasola.org/introduction/] vocals).
The album was recorded in British studios rather
than in the field, so the sound quality is top-notch,
but the singing style may grate on the uninitiated
listener's ears after a few songs. So take this
in bite-size pieces if you must, but do check it
out.
More resources on West
Papua:
http://wpik.org/
http://www.koteka.net/
http://westpapuaaction.buz.org/
Mahsa
& Marjan Vahdat: I Am Eve (KKV)
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CD/hear samples
Iran's
Vahdat sisters scored a hit with their live concert
recording Songs
from a Persian Garden in 2007. Now they're
back, sans Norwegian collaborators, with the distinctly
more meditative, more traditional-feeling I
Am Eve. With lyrics written by contemporary
and classic poets (yes, including Rumi), the sisters
team up with a crack group of Iranian musicians
on 10 songs about love and joy and sorrow -- often
intermingled. Subtly powerful vocals crest and ebb
atop Atabak Elyasi's sparse compositions, a haunting
combination that digs deep even if the lyrics pass
your conscious mind by.
More
Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat:
website
Figli
Di Madre Ignota: Fez Club (EastBlok)
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CD/hear samples
Italy:
Home of spaghetti, monotonous defensive soccer,
and Balkan dance music. Okay...none of these may
be exclusively Italian, but the new album from Milano-based
Figli Di Madre Ignota makes a strong argument for
the last item on that list. The Balkans arguably
lie across the Adriatic Sea, but some musical seed
must have floated west across the waters, or become
lodged in the tire of a truck hauling cabbages from
Zagreb. And what grew from that seed, once nestled
in the warm soil of Northern Italy, is a tireless
party music replete with blasting horns, lilting
accordion, past-midnight vocals, and a spirit that's
every bit as Balkan as Shantel or Slavic Soul Party.
Seattle assemblage Circus Contraption makes an appearance
on "Sadoman," a manic track that, we're
pretty sure, features a kitchen sink. Fantastic
music for people more interested in dancing than
in having their papers ready at the border.
More
Figli Di Madre Ignota:
youtube
website
Tara
Linda & Luna Nueva: New Moon (self-released)
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CD/hear samples
You
have to be intrigued by a musician who cites as
influences PJ Harvey, Danny Elfman, Lydia Mendoza,
The Pixies, and Edith Piaf. Who evolved from punk
drumming to singing torch songs and rancheras. And
who performs with a group called The Blue Fur Monkeys
in addition to the Tex-Mex group Luna Nueva heard
on this album. The adventurous tracklist begins
with a spoken word story reminiscent of the film
El Mariachi (if you substitute an accordion
case for the guitar case), and proceeds through
the sounds of the border, from boleros and cumbias
to an accordion-led version of Johnny Cash's classic
"Fulsom Prison Blues." The latter is among
several songs that feel a little too loose, the
productions feeling a little too rushed or perhaps
too casual for the album's otherwise promising straddling-the-Rio-Grande
feel. A little unevenness doesn't shake the appeal
of other songs, such as the sparse mystery of "El
Diablito y Su Accordeon," or the traditional
cancion "Las Gaviotas."
More
Tara Linda & Luna Nueva:
taralinda.com
myspace.com/lalunanueva
©2008
Scott Allan Stevens, Earball Media |
