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best of what they do here, this unusual line-
up will be well worth keeping an ear on.
www.konimusic.co.uk;
www.myspace.com/rafikijazz
Jamie Renton
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Panama! 3: Calypso Panameño, Guajira
Jazz & Cumbia Típica On The Isthmus
1960–75 Soundway SNDWCD018
As an endless tsunami of shoddy reissues from
Cuba to West Africa painfully confirm, any
twit can waltz into a developing country
recording trove and slap together a half-wit-
ted compilation destined rapidly to disappear
into the second-hand dustbins. A stellar
exception is Soundway Records, whose recent-
ly issued third Panamanian volume from the
1960s and ‘70s reminds us that this global
crossroads has long nourished a vibrant musi-
cal culture in a society that, while open to all
and sundry, sustains a unique sonic legacy.
Cuban composer Guillermo Rodríguez
Fiffe’s familiar Bilongo sways with a tinny
cumbia guitar remake by Papi Brandao Y Sus
Batuko Tabanka
Ejecutivos. In like Afro-Colombian vein, El
Pajaro Zum-Zum presents the accordeon BATUKO TABANKA
capital Cidade Velha and in a little house of
strains commonly associated with Panama’s
culture in today’s capital Praia, videos of two
southern neighbour, a reminder that the
Djunta Mô PAI Música PAI-W-09/050
tracks and a 5.1 surround audio recording.
country was a province of Colombia before
This is a prime exam-
Not all the Galician musicians were pre-
the United States intervened to secure control
ple of the eye helping
sent at the Cape Verde recordings, but Uxía is
of the terrain that yielded the Panama Canal.
the ear; the inclusion
among those who were and she’s seen in the
On Moving-Grooving, Little Francisco Greaves
in its substantial book-
films joyfully connecting the traditions, in a
conjures up the reigning spirit of James
type pack of a DVD
pandeiretera song and a morna with the
Brown, on a pounding rock-solid drums ‘n’
makes this already attractive-sounding CD a
batuko group and instrumentalists including
bass, handclap-grunt-and-scream foundation
lot more understandable and interesting.
Cape Verdean violinist Nho Nanu. Of the
worthy of the Godfather of Soul. By the Silver-
Here’s the story.
Cape Verdeans Ntoni Dente D’Oro, who
tones, Up Tight is romping echo-chamber
Latin boogaloo and soul with a dash of Gersh-
Some Cape Verdean women who in the
seems to be something of a local legend, is
win and a hint of Beny Moré – they don’t
early 1970s emigrated to Spain and settled in
particularly prominent in the footage.
make them like this anymore. Extending that
the fishing port of Burela, on the north coast
The resulting audio album is often quite
now-rare groove, Orquesta Los Embajadores
of Galicia, got together to continue the Cape
a dense, muscular layering of overdubs of
serves up Shingalin En Panamá, 1967 Latin
Verdean tradition of batuko, in which
instruments and percussion, but it bursts with
shing-a-ling like it was never heard in Spanish
groups of women sit singing lively songs
life. Batuko Tabanka’s energetic solo and
Harlem. Ralph Weeks & The Telecasters
together, usually in call-and-response, or
answering group vocals are the overriding
rework the Roger Graham/ Don Peyton/
jump up for giggling bum-wiggling dance, as
sound, joined by sympathetic interjections
Spencer Williams chestnut I Ain’t Got Nobody
their vocals sail freely over a brisk ‘bom-
from the other vocalists including the charac-
(which received any number of boogaloo
paka-ta’ 3/4 rhythm from hand-slapped
teristic warmth of Uxía and wildness of Peón.
treatments in 1960s New York) into a descarga
batukos, small plastic or leather-covered It’s joyfully infectious music full of
cum guajira titled, naturally, Gua-Jazz. By Sir
wads of cloth laid on their laps. melodic ear-worms, varied voices, sounds and
Valentino Con Combo Esclavos Alegres, Mas-
In Galicia there’s a long tradition of
rhythms that expands on the simple batuko-
ters Are Gone is a haunting minor-key string-
women singing together in pandeiretera
slapping and sometimes moves away from its
band calypso with a hint of reggae, and a
groups, accompanying themselves on tam-
prevailing 3/4 into other local song-styles. It
shout-out to Martin Luther King – an anthem
bourines (pandeiretas), sometimes to a simi- makes a celebration of Cape Verdean social
of black cultural endurance.
lar rhythm to batuko. In the recording pro- music-making and cross-cultural communica-
With Chombo Pa’ La Tienda, by Soul
ject Djunta Mô (meaning something like ‘all tion with one of the islanders’ emigration
Apollo and Frederick Clarke, the stereotypical
help together’ in the Cape Verdean Mandin- destinations that’s likely to generate consid-
chombo figure (local slang for black immi-
ka-Portuguese creole) the two traditions erable international airplay and draw atten-
grant labourers from the English-speaking
come together; the Batuko Tabanka group is tion abroad and at home to the value of the
Caribbean) is sent to the store with his ill-
joined by singers and instrumentalists main- islands’ less obviously commercial musics. One
tempered mother’s call-and-response shop-
ly from Cape Verde and Galicia, about a would imagine it’s a dream-fulfilment for the
ping list, enumerated in rapid-fire West Indi-
dozen from each. group too, and an encouragement to others.
an patois, and faithfully repeated to the Chi-
The recordings were done with equip- www.pai-musica.com
nese shopkeeper in street Spanish. Back
ment rigged up in hotel rooms on the largest
home, the black-humour climax comes when
Cape Verde island, Santiago, and in a Galician
Andrew Cronshaw
Chombo attempts to withhold the change
studio. Among the Cape Verdeans are popular
from his tipsy mother with a diversionary tale
singer-guitarists Tcheka and Vadú, and the
about how the boys on the street all ridicule
elderly but animated gold-toothed versifier
KERFUFFLE
her for her abusive alcoholic ways.
Ntoni Dente D’Oro, whose vocals are a kind of
Lighten The Dark: A Midwinter Album
Documented in exemplary fashion, Pana-
sing-rap; among the Galicians are singers Uxía
RootBeat Records RBRCD08
ma! 3 offers all this and more, in the unsenti-
and Mercedes Peón, both fine exponents of
mental spirit of a place where, if nothing
the pandeiretera tradition, Berrogüetto
A collection of classic folk carols, this album is
comes easy, nothing escapes the ribald opti-
drummer Isaac Palacín and ex-Milladoiro
beautifully produced, well mixed and a
mism reflected in this sizzling slice of Panama-
harpist Rodrigo Romaní and gaiteiros and
sparkling representation of the skills of the
nian cultural history. Fittingly, compiler Rober-
wind players including Xosé Manuel Budiño.
four young people performing thereon. The
to Ernesto Gyemant dedicates its 23 gritty
The DVD presents a 52-minute documen-
album sleeve indicates the sources of all of the
nuggets to Lord Cobra (aka Wilfred Berry) and
tary that opens with some useful historical
material and there is more than a nod in the
His Sugar Tone Band, whose Partido Calpyso-
background to Cape Verde’s history and goes
direction of the late 19th century folk song
nian issues a triumphant challenge to
on to give a good sense of the context and
collectors. Indeed the choice of material indi-
Trinidad’s calypso king Sparrow, wherein to
people involved in the making of the album,
cates that the band are intent on performing
no one’s surprise, Lord Cobra ascends to rule,
including visits to elderly traditional singers
material from the English rural tradition.
and Colón, Panamá emerges as the epicentre
across the island. Voice-over and subtitles are Hannah’s slightly breathy voice is well
of the good-time universe. It only took a few
in Galego, Castilian Spanish and Portuguese, suited to the chirpy rhythm of I Saw Three
decades for the rest of us to hear the news.
but the visuals are vivid and a non-speaker Ships and yet is well able to carry the gravitas
www.soundwayrecords.com
would get the gist pretty well. It also contains of Lullay My Liking. The harmonies demon-
concert footage, of the group plus some of the strated in Truth From Above and Sussex Carol
Michael Stone guests in the dusty centre of Cape Verde’s old are thoughtfully chosen and deliver the sense
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