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SYSTEMA SOLAR
SYSTEMA SOLAR (Chusma CR002)
This one leaps out of the speakers and grabs your vitals! Looking for things to fill the soukous void under my dancing feet I find the Colombian sound systems are really fitting the bill (& the cover design is bad enough to convince you of its legitimacy). Colombian sound systems are mobile, often pulled on donkey carts to move the massive speakers. Champeta is the raw ingredient, to which they have added scratching on old (truly scratchy) 1940s LPs, DJ toasting, with the exaggeration diction of r-r-r-r-r-r-adio announcers! and drumming and samples. This kicks off with wild enthusiasm and a track called "Bienvenidos" where they repeat "Systema Solar" over and over, against a pulsing bass, samples, scratched records and a wailing organ. "Mi Kolombia" starts in the street and layers on accordeon samples and a sickly wheezy funfair whirl of vocals & effects. It's ill and I love it. "El Majagual" features wild flauta de millo, which is a native instrument like a shrill reedy pennywhistle. After fifteen minutes it slows to a ballad then a techno ditty, called "Chico," that is skippable. But they are not giving up yet. What sounds like a souped-up Calypso oldie called "Firewire" is remade as "Fayaguaya." The live horns and vocals on this are fine. A dubby kind of thing --"Oye"-- follows that is okay in the flow because you are ready for a break. Speaking of flow it sounds like it's underwater. We stay in trance space for a while, with a fine clarinet popping up in "Amenaza." Then they wake up for a big finish with "Ya veras" and "Quien es el patron?," both back in the sh*t-kicking champeta mode. Overall Systema Solar's debut disc is well-sequenced & most enjoyable.
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SEPTETO NACIONAL
SIN RUMBA NO HAY SON (World Village 468105)
Though their founder, Ignacio Piñeiro, died in 1969, Septeto Nacional chugs along purveying son to the world, as they have since the 1920s. Piñeiro was first to think of adding trumpet to the line-up, creating the son habanero, and scoring massive hits with "Echale salsita (Put some salsa on it)," "No juegues con los santos (Don't mess with the saints)," and the truly sublime "Suavecito." His Septeto Nacional recorded in New York in 1927 and toured the world until the group fell apart in the mid-thirties over money squabbles. But they reformed in the 1950s and are now on their fourth generation of players. They toured last year (their first gig in San Francisco since 1933 made the local news) and are back again, promoting this new album. They do three oldies, injected with new life as songs they have worn like a white suit and still manage to keep it sparkling. The other material is composed by band members in the classic style, or covers by noted composers such as Marcelina Guerra or Almenares' "Mueva la cintura," which turns into "Autumn leaves" in the bridge! From the first notes of "Embale tiene la llave," a tribute to Carlos Embale who sang with the group in the early 50s, by bongocero Francisco Oropesa, we are in that blissful space where the "llave" is not only the key to happiness but the clack of the hardwood sticks, the claves, that propel the rhythm. Enrique Collazo Collazo is also an exceptional tresero: just check out his solo on "El Plato roto." Los Rumberos de Cuba show up for some fine drumming in the middle of the album. Here is a group of talented artists who are comfortable with their accomplishments and have attained the highest level of their art without needing to show off or showboat, just coast along on the clave.
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ROUGH GUIDE TO BHANGRA (World Music Network RGNET1202)
The new Rough Guide to Bhangra is another remake. I am assuming the 2000 Rough Guide to Bhangra is out of print. Still, there is going to be confusion when people look for this and get that. Plus there is also their "Bhangra Dance" compilation. They call this one the "new edition" & it bodes well: they can revisit all of their compilations and perfect each of them. The old one had Malkit Singh, Nusrat and of course "Mundian to bach ke" by Panjabi MC. He returns (with a "Boliyan"), but Malkit Singh -- and Bally Sagoo -- are as dust, though they were huge a decade ago. Yes, Bhangra is ephemeral music, like all pop, but it does renew itself and become fresh to our ears, unlike Rock & Roll or mainstream pop. The Duchess & I sampled the top ten on iTunes (audio only) and there was not an original ditty among them all. It wasn't all Beatles or Madonna or Michael Jackson imitations but there was nothing distinguished or unique about any of it. Pity the youth of today. I bet Decca or Fontana could reissue the Searchers or the Swinging Blue Jeans (with the appropriate spotty youth lipsynching video) & top all the charts. So we turn to the land of the five rivers which spans Western India, Eastern Pakistan and Bradford, Yorkshire. And I guess the river Clyde is one of the rivers, since the Glaswegian group Tigerstyle is here too. The "typical" Bhangra sound in 8/8 time, with fast drumming and jerky ektar accompaniment (which we associate with wedding dancers thrusting their arms in the air while pogoing on one leg and generally being idiotic), doesn't turn up until Dalvinder Singh's "Yaar da viah" which was a hit in 2007. Achanak who is another survivor of the purges of time gets a whole second disc to himself. What this release signals is that Bhangra was not a fad a decade ago and it has evolved and continues to produce new and interesting artists.
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ROOTS OF CHICHA 2
MORE PSYCHEDELIC CUMBIAS FROM PERU (Barbès Records)
You liked the first volume in the series, three years ago, remember? Well, now here's more to tickle your fancy. To recap: In the 60s these Peruvian bands heard Cumbia music from Colombia. They liked the loping beat and hybridized it with electric rock, which was then in psychedelic mode. They added old standby Cuban guaracha and bits of their own folkloric music. The result was a gutter ball, rather than a glitter ball, that missed the mainstream. Spurned by the middle classes and the Peruvian hipsters, it took root in the slums of Lima where Andean workers arrived. The 2007 release was praised for creating a bridge back to the rock and Latin music of the late 60s that had been overlooked in the constant cultural back-hoeing of our collective past, looking for obscure nuggets. And the success of volume one prompted Barbès to return for another dose of 11 (different) bands and 16 tracks, taking a new approach to show the sophisticated rather than the wild side of the music. It also brings in some of the Cuban-influenced sounds that helped shape the music early on, and comes up to the later Andean sound that defined Chicha at its height. This sequel is a diverse and engaging collection. It's not at all strange and "Colegiala" by Los Illusionistas is one well-known cumbia that I have heard before. "Agua" by Manzanita y su Conjunto reminds me of prime Santana: for a total obscurity this is pretty amazing. In the first disc we had a wild take on "Für Elise;" this time we get a twangy guitar rendering of "Siboney." This music also had an impact in Mexico, but most significantly the previous compilation from Barbès led to a revival in the homeland and today neglected Peruvian bands from the 60s are on the comeback trail.
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KHAIRA ARBY
TIMBUKTU TARAB (Clermont Music)
The glittering lure of Tombouctou has faded, with tales of Al Quaeda-in-the-dunes kidnapping Western tourists, so we are back to listening to the music and doing some armchair travel, rather than planning to brave sandstorms and spitting camels to get there. Khaira Arby is a traditional Songhai and Berber praise singer from Mali, untouched by the Western ideas that pushed her compatriots Issa Bagayogo and Rokia Traore into the international spotlight. She sings about people, the anguish of women, religious festivals. The Duchess finds it high-pitched and complaining, but when you are relating tales of female excision or exhausted workers returning from the salt mines, it's hard to be light and airy. Arby has surrounded herself with a band of three rock guitars in addition to fiddle and ngoni. Even the calabash is backed by a western drumkit, so the album has drive, to say the least, and it will be demonstrated in person as she is backing her words with actions on a North American tour, hoping to become as familiar (& popular) as Salif Keita, Toumani Diabaté, Vieux Farka Touré, or Tinariwen to the American concert audience. However, it does seem as though she is trying to cram Ali Farka AND Oumou Sangare into the same package. The power rock may be necessary to get attention, but it is the traditional aspect of her music that appeals to me, when its the njarka and backing female chorus trading licks against her strong vocals, with handclaps and calabash creating the rhythm. She moves back and forth between the more traditional praise songs and the rock-inspired outings that should appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners.
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2010 so far ... Recent posts & reviews:
(click on maps at the top of the page to get to continent of choice)
Konono Numero Uno's latest is in Congo 3
Jali B. Konteh went to Senegal because I don't have a Gambia section
Similarly, Orch National de Barbès went to "Arabia" because there is no separate Algeria page
Palenque Palenque is filed under Colombia
A.R. Rahman's soundtrack to Raavan is in Bollywood part 2
Carlou D is at home in Senegal
Guaschara's Influencias is filed under Salsa (Nueva York) for want of a better spot
You can read about D.O. Misiani under Kenya
Rough Guide to India and Janaka Selekta both went to India
Afrosound of Colombia also went home
Cuchata's Amor, Cambio, etc is filed in Caribbean misc.
Laya Project is filed in Indonesia
Youssou Ndour & Etoile de Dakar's Once upon a time in Senegal is filed under Senegal part 2
Chico Trujillo is from Chile, but since there's no Chile section, I gave him the honour of being in the Caribbean section
Salif Keita's latest & Vieux Farka Touré live can both be read about in Mali part 2
Kartick & Gotam slunk off to the Eurotrash page
Putumayo's stab at a South Africa compilation is found under South Africa
Orchestre Sierra Maestra's 11th CD is filed under Cuba part 4
Paban das Baul can be discovered in India
Luisa Maita is filed in Brasil part 2
Anoushka Shankar in concert is filed in India LIVE
Issa Juma's latest Stern's collection is in Kenya
Putumayo's Latin Party can be found in Salsa
The Spy from Cairo is lurking in Arabia
Bako Dagnon can be found in Mali 2
Annibal Velasquez belongs in Colombia
The Kankobela of the Batonga Vol 1 is filed under Southern Africa
Sambada's Gente! is in Brasil part 2
NIGERIA AFROBEAT SPECIAL: new explosive sound in 1970s Nigeria and
NIGERIA SPECIAL Vol. 2: Modern highlife, Afro sounds & Nigerian blues 1970-6 are both filed in Nigeria part 2
Very Be Careful's Escape Room can be found in Colombia
Etran Finatawa's latest is filed under Mali 2 & Niger
My name is Khan soundtrack is under Bollywood 2
Calypso Dreams is filed under Trinidad
Cazumbi: Garage band sounds of Africa is under African miscellany
Machito & his Afro-Cubans doing CARAMBOLA Live, is filed under Salsa
I have created a Cambodia page for the band Dengue Fever
Quantic & His Combo Barbaro is filed under Colombia
So is Bomba Estereo
Rocksteady is under Jamaica part 3
John Storm Roberts: an appreciation (by me & Richard Henderson) is here
Cubanismo from the Congo is filed in Congo Classics
Boban i Marko Blown away to dance floor heaven is under Gypsy brass
March Fourth Marching Band's Rise up is under Brass bands
Amampondo is under South Africa
Delroy Wilson's Dub plate style is under Jamaica 3
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba's I speak Fula is filed in Mali 2
Click HERE for my top 10 of 2009 Click HERE for my top 9 of 2008 Click HERE for my top 10 of 2007 Click HERE for my top 11 of 2006
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NEW BOOK!
"Essential reference guide to the Congo guitar king" -- SONGLINES 64 **** (four stars)
A DISCOGRAPHY OF DOCTEUR NICO
By Alastair Johnston
Poltroon Press, 2009, 78 pages; price $19.95 post-free in the USA; please add $5 for overseas airmail shipping.
Available now. Click here for details.
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