BADI
ASSAD: VERDE (Edge Music)
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Assad's
voice has that sweet air of seduction you expect from Brazilian
vocalists - along with top-notch guitar playing and vocal
percussion. Worth the price of admission is the final track,
a brief but amazing cover of the Brazilian classic "Asa
Branca" on
which Assad plays guitar, hums, and performs mouth percussion
- all
at once.
In addition to such traditional tunes and her originals,
Assad covers U2's "One" (which becomes a bossa
nova) and Bjork's "Bachelorette" (with an Argentine
tango twist). This CD is a must for fans of Brazilian music,
guitar expertise,
and
great
music
in
general.
MFA
KERA & MIKE RUSSELL / BLACK HERITAGE: AFRO SOUL (Black
Heritage Productions)
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Kera looks intimidatingly intense on the cover,
but this Afropop album is full of catchy rhythms and vocals
(African languages and English). The music draws from many
cultures - not surprising since Kera was born in Madagascar,
grew up in Senegal, lives in Paris, and works with an array
of global musicians.
ERNEST
RANGLIN: SURFIN' (Tropic)
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Instrumental Jamaican jazz, mon, with huge
cross-genre appeal for fans of world music, jazz, reggae,
and guitar music.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: SOUNDS ECLECTICO (Nacional)
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Lovers
of modern Latin music will drool over this 16-track compilation
of live recordings from the studios of KCRW. The disc features
some of the biggest and hottest bands in the Alt Latin
universe: Cafe Tacuba, Sidestepper, Juana Molina, Aterciopelados,
Manu Chao, Ozomatli, El Gran Silencio. The fine song notes
include the invitation extended to KCRW host Nic Harcourt
by 70-year-old Cuban chanteuse Omara Portuondo to join
her in her hotel room (he would have gone, he says, but
he had a girlfriend). A great sampler of new Latin sounds
from ballads to electronica to hiphop - just don't expect
your abuelo's traditional music! Would love to hear more
from the KCRW vaults!
EMMANUEL
JAL & ABDEL GADIR SALIM: CEASEFIRE (Riverboat Records)
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From
a land divided comes a plea for unity. I don't need to
remind you of the turmoil in Sudan, where a tenuous peace
agreement holds together a country torn by decades of strife
between the more developed Arab/Muslim North and the less
developed black, animist/Christian South. Stepping in as
a voice for peace are Emmanuel Jal and
Abdel Gadir Salim. The two are a real odd couple: The
black, Christian Jal is a former Southern child soldier
turned rapper; Salim is a highly-trained and respected
Muslim
musician/singer/composer
from the North. Jal has a loose, raw vocal style while
Salim's singing is smooth, rich, composed. Yet somehow
it all works out, the contrast becoming an asset as they
trade verses on songs like "Hadiya." The music
varies as well, depending on the composer. Jal-penned
"Baai" and "Nyambol" shimmer
with the snaking modern grooves, while "Lemon Bara" and "Gamearina"
feature Salim's rich,
detailed orchestration. Rich liner notes and song translations
help make this two-man plea for peace one of the most satisfying
collaborations of 2005.
Read
more about Emmanuel Jal from Time and
at his own website, emmanueljal.net
MOUSSU
T E LEI JOVENTS: MADEMOISELLE
MARSEILLE (Le Chant du Monde)
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More
great modern global music from Marseille, in the tradition
of Manu Chao.
AFRICAN
SHOW BOYZ: BROTHERS BOLD (Across The
Way Productions)
artist site : buy CD/hear samples
This
unique band from Ghana is made up of five brothers, who
began their career as street performers (you can see clips
in the DVD 1
Giant Leap). Their music is raw roots - drumming and
singing and traditional instruments including kone, bin
bill, bin douk, siyak, sisans, tonton sansan, mnan, fritusuwa,
and durun, and the understated melodies and tight arrangements
keep the music engaging and accessible. Their previous CD Spiritual
Song featured several Bob Marley
tunes. This one does feature an English-language track
("Suffer in Africa") but most of the music is
the sound of the savannah highlands of Ghana's upper east.
The closing
track is a tribute to Babatunde Olatunji, an early supporter
of their music. The African Show Boyz are currently touring
the USA, and play at Olympia's Capitol Theater on September
25 (see calendar) with Karl
Denson's Tiny Universe. Highly recommended!
BONGA: BONGA
LIVE (Lusafrica)
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The Angolan singer returns after a long absence,
with this lovely live album full of soulful Afropean music
and his warm, gruff voice.
HURDY-GURDY: PROTOTYP (Northside)
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It ain't what you're thinking. Yes, it's a
pair of Swedish hurdy-gurdy players. But in addition to playing
the absurd little instruments, they use their Macs to sample,
and mix, and distort, and remix. The result is hurdtronica,
with thick beats and odd sampled noises as a foundation for
melodies played with a more traditional sound. It's not for
everyone, but many pieces are musically compelling, and the
whole project is a fascinating take on tradition updated.
BORIS
KOVAC & LA CAMPANELLA: WORLD AFTER HISTORY (Piranha)
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The latest installment from the Yugoslavian
master of apocalyptic Balkan world music. Imagine a Balkan-born,
sax-playing Tom Waites providing the soundtrack for Douglas
Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. You get
the idea.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: MVET AI MENDZANG - MUSIC OF THE BETI IN
CAMEROON (Wergo)
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We've
come to expect some of Africa's most sophisticated jazz
and world music. This CD offers something quite different
- 1984 field recordings of the roots music of the Beti
people, featuring mendzang (the
Beti version of the balafon) and mvet zither
(which looks like the hybrid offspring of kora and berimbau).
Singers,
backed by circular musical themes, wax about love, lust,
nature, family, and such. Appreciation of the music is
greatly enhanced by the rich 76-page booklet (German and
English) with photos and notes on the culture, music, artists,
and songs - complete with full lyrics. An excellent resource
for lovers of Cameroon and African roots music.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: CENTRAL PARK SUMMERSTAGE-LIVE FROM THE HEART
OF THE CITY (Circular Moves)
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If
you can't get to NYC for their fabulous concerts, here's
the next best thing. With tracks from Celia Cruz,
Ben fold, Burning Spear, Marina Abad, Susana Baca, Kekele,
Olu Dara, Simon Shaheen, Quantara, Thomas Mapfumo & the
Blacks Unlimited, and NBRQ, you'll find the main problem
with
this CD is you want more.
STUDIO
PAGOL: THE REST OF THE WORLD (Maboul)
band website : buy
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download free unreleased mp3 "Walou"
- more free Studio Pagol mp3s
here
Belgium-based
Studio Pagol has captured the sound of the global dancefloor.
The Bengal-Belgium-Morocco
quartet has a clear club vibe, but manages to maintain
an engaging acoustic ethnic element and also inject a bit
of politics, as in the sitar-laced opening track "Stop!"
("please stop the war / I don't agree..."). The variety
of lead vocalists and musical styles may make you wonder
if this is really a single band. The Arab-pop opening of
"Amanaman" gives way to an aggressively advancing wall
of electronics. "Bhangra Night Fever" serves up the Punjabi
dance with extra bass and a soulful trumpet solo. And the
world of "Supreme Blue" bursts with chilled beats, scratches,
and soulful vocals by Laila Amezian.
From
these to the trancey "Urban Gnawax" and the spoken-word
story at the heart of the sparse "Jealousy," Studio
Pagol keeps
you
guessing,
with surprises around every corner. The notes don't provide
lyrics, but the band's website explains that the album
is "all
about our own special relationship with the planet we dwell
on. In the lyrics of Studio Pagol,
tenderness,
wrath & humor are side by side." A "hidden" live
track rounds out the CD, and gives a taste of the band's
reportedly
amazing live shows.
This
album will fit nicely in music collections already containing
such world-dance acts as Gotan Project, Zap Mama,
and Natacha Atlas.
THE
MOTHERS: TOWNSHIP SESSIONS (Mr Bongo)
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The
Philani Mothers aren't really a musical group. Not in the
modern, "western" sense. Their forming in 1986 was a reaction
to health issues, not musical ambitions, a fact made clear
by the title of their 1998 cassette, "The Philani Mothers
Lyrical Heath Messages." This CD sees the likes of Nitin
Sawhney, Kid Loco, and Kalahari Surfers reworking those
original 10 vocal songs with some very groovy instrumentation.
The track "Breathe Together" features Miriam Makeba, apparently
doing the tricky breathing part. Far more effective than
a similar reworking of the music of
Ladysmith
Black
Mambazo
(see
review below), Township
Sessions is musically exciting, even if you don't
speak the language.
BALKAN
BEAT BOX: BALKAN BEAT BOX (JDUB)
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Take
the
rooster crow opening this CD as a warning, a wake-up call
that your feet are going to want to dance and your head
bob maniacally side to side. Balkan Beat Box does for Balkan
music what fellow New Yorkers Yerba Buena done with
Latin roots, twisting the tradition to their
own
nefarious
ends. BBB blends Balkan horns and vocals, Middle Eastern
rhythms, turntables, big fat power chords, and other musical
flotsam into an exotic, compelling
Balkan rave. Don't even try to resist.
DABY
BALDE: INTRODUCING DABY BALDE (Introducing/World
Music Network)
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Here
in the West, people sometimes have difficulty distinguishing
different countries in Africa, much less different regions.
But a little geography helps explain the music of singer
Daby Balde, who hails from the region of Casamance in Senegal's
south. Casamance, cut off from the north of Senegal, is
a diverse area (sandwiched between Gambia and Guinea-Bissau)
with music distinct from the Dakar sound. A former taxi
driver, Balde has a pure crisp voice with a hint of gruffness,
and the musical arrangements are airtight. You'll understand
the lyrics only if you speak Fula (a few songs are in Wolof,
Mandinka, or French), but the liner notes suggest themes
of culture,
hard work, love,
betrayal,
home.
"Waino Blues" provides a reverse bridge from
Africa back to American blues; "Halaname" pays melodic
tribute
to "the
best person in the world"; and the mournful "Hakurujamane"
insists over acoustic guitars that "we are at the end of
the world
/
We have to try to do good things / To do bad things will
bring the end of the world sooner." World
Music Network's "Introducing" imprint has presented another
winner to the world in Daby Balde.
VARIOUS
ARTISTS: THE ROUGH GUIDE TO AFRICAN MUSIC FOR CHILDREN (World
Music Network)
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"More
than twenty-six schools [in the UK] worked to select the
songs on this compilation. Each class was given albums
with dozens of songs from across Africa, and the students
were asked to select their favorites. The responses from
all of these surveys were tabulated" and the result is
this compilation. I'm certainly not going to second-guess
the choices (and besides, if you really need music from
Madagascar, get the Rough
Guide to the Music of Madagascar). What I will do is
tell you that this CD would make a great introduction to
African music for kids of any age. The fun accessible music
runs the gamut from a mostly-instrumental Afrobeat track
by Tony Allen & Tweak (Nigeria), to very different takes
on African hiphop by X Plastaz (Tanzania) and JJC & 419
Squad (Senegal), to the sweet vocal harmonies of Ladysmith
Black
Mambazo (South Africa).
Don't look for a particular flow or logic in the 12 selections,
just sit back and admire the diverse music of a huge continent.
KRONOS
QUARTET AND ASHA BHOSLE: YOU'VE STOLEN MY HEART-SONGS
FROM R.D. BURMAN'S BOLLYWOOD (Nonesuch)
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Ever
read the lyrics to a familiar song only to discover you
had no idea the real meaning? I just had one of those moments.
Some years back, the song "Dum Maro Dum" snuck
into my consciousness. It's catchy refrain can easily get
lodged
in your brain, and I figured that wasn't such a bad thing,
since the refrain includes the Vaishnava chant "Hare
Krishna, Hare Ram." Must be some catchy, pop version
of a devotional song, I'm thinking.
Boy
did I have it wrong. The notes to this new CD of collaborations
between the audacious Kronos Quartet and the prolific Asha
Bhosle tell a sordid tale. The song is from the 1971 film
Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, which tells the tale
of a wayward Indian girl who's fallen into the pot-hazed
rebellion of a Katmandu hippie commune. She sings of "the
nihilistic joys of smoking your cares away." The song
title, by the way, translates as "Take Another Toke."
R.D.
Burman had some sort of musical charm, producing maddeningly
catchy filmi music for countless Bollywood movies
before his death in 1994. And while
Lata Mangeshkar was also a prolific "playback" singer,
her younger sister Bhosle far surpassed her, by some estimates
selling more "units" than Elvis Presley and the
Beatles combined. The detailed liner notes include this
and other
juicy bits about this project, which includes music from
1970-1987. And while Kronos is central to the arrangements,
the music is not at all "stringy," adding pipa
player Wu Man and percussionist Zakir Hussain. This delicious
CD sets a high standard for cross-cultural collaborations.
Highly recommended.
LADYSMITH
BLACK MAMBAZO: LIVE AT MONTREUX (Eagle
Records)
artist site : buy CD/DVD & hear samples
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO: THE CHILLOUT SESSIONS (Rasa)
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The
Zulu-gospel-rooted South African group needs no introduction,
not since Paul Simon's Graceland and their own albums catapulted
them into mainstream musical consciousness. These two new
offerings, however, will appeal to dramatically different
audiences. The first is classic LBM, recorded live at the
1987, 1989, and 2000 Montreux
Jazz Festivals. Their powerful voices ring
out in glorious harmony, the sound crisp and clear
for a live festival recording. A welcome addition to the
collection of any Ladysmith Black Mambazo fan.
While
LBM has had
successful musical collaborations with artists including
Dolly Parton, Desree, and Kermit the Frog, The Chillout
Sessions leaves me rather, er..., cold. The electronic
music is tastefully done, sure. But the music tends to
dilute power of those wonderful vocal harmonies and strip
their emotional intensity. Maybe that's the intention of
"chillout"
music,
but who wants a CD that's a pale remix of the original?
This one is okay as soft background music, but for the
real deal, go for Live at Montreux or LBM's other
vocal-only albums.
All
reviews ©2005
Scott Allan Stevens, Earball Media. Reprint rights available
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