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inevitable Penguin Cafe Orchestra and mini- malist composers such as Steve Reich would be first out of the bag, if only in intention, but if you like Fernwood, The Henrys and of course Spiro, you’ll recognise fellow travellers. This trio, however, hoe their own row, and do so very successfully, creating singular, contempla- tive and seductive moods and atmospheres.
www.idyllicrecords.co.uk Ian Kearey AZAM ALI
From Night To The Edge Of Day Six Degrees 657036 1177-2
She’s the unmistake- ably spellbinding lead voice of Niyaz, fea- tured in fR317/8 and whose last album was in our fRoots Playlist, with its wonderful track Beni Beni included on our fRoots 32 CD. All of which makes it rather strange that the label couldn’t be bothered to tell us of this one’s existence so we only found out about it by accident, wouldn’t you say? Now that might just about be explicable if it was a self-indul- gent dog of a solo project that they wanted to keep quiet about, but nothing could be further from that – it’s blindingly lovely. Strange are the ways of world music labels in these days of genre distress.
On paper, descriptions of this music might contain some of the same adjectives that get applied to Enya, but it would do Azam a profound disservice to bracket her with whooshy Celtysynth newage. To be sure it has a spacious, floating, soothing sound, but that’s because this is subtitled “A collection of lullabies from the Middle East” and this whole album has a rather more organic structure than that of even Niyaz. Azam, of course, was born in Iran but grew up in India and eventually the USA, with strong spiritual beliefs. As well as a rivetting singer she’s also a santour player and percus- sionist on frame drums. Here, the twin influ- ences from Iran and India are augmented by first-class, ultra-sympathetic musicians from Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon and Jordan, and the traditional sources are from Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. And everything’s in the right place, making a clear and nicely tex- tured backdrop that allows perfect focus on her breathtaking voice. Full marks to Azam and her husband and co-Niyazist Loga Ramin Torkjan for their co-production skills.
Azam Ali
Lullabies are supposed to soothe restless children but I can’t recommend this one high- er for soothing stressed-out adults of discern- ing musical tastes.
www.sixdegreesrecords.com Ian Anderson WESTERN JAZZ BAND
Songs Of Happiness, Poison & Ululation Sterns STCD 3052
Here’s the latest in Sterns’ entertaining- ly-named series of East African classic reissues put together by Doug Paterson. The Western Jazz Band from Tanzania achieved little renown despite a line of hit singles and a compila- tion LP released in France. Formed in Dar es Salaam in 1959, though these songs were recorded as singles between 1973 and 75, they were a music club, with dues and subs. No shortage of musicians to draw on – no fewer than ten of them on the photo here, though they sound like less.
Their sound is called saboso, with two guitarists – one more lead than the other, one more rhythm, but unusually complex and inventive. There’s a light, skipping drum part, and prominent bass. Sometimes the songs open with a relatively staid formal exposi- tion, later to shift up the neck to something altogether more revved-up and tranced-out, as in Congolese rumba. In fact these tracks reveal a band on the cusp between well-man- nered pop music of the ‘50s and something more turbulent and euphoric.
The music has its moments – the lovely busy-busy rhythm and gear-change of Ahadi is a stunner, as is the odd closed-in pattern of Usiamini Binadamu and the intriguing Balaa Limeniandama, pointing to what Orchestra Makassy later achieved – but in brutal frank- ness, there isn’t enough to consistently trans- port or inflame for a whole CD’s worth. The vocals aren’t particularly persuasive, too polite by half. The guitar work is sometimes stellar, with strange interlocking patterns and far too much echo – sometimes even prefig- uring the immediate post-Television Tom Ver- laine with cheeky effects. But if the guitars are out of tune for more than a certain per- centage of the time, interest fails.
www.sternsmusic.com Rick Sanders
YOM & THE WONDER RABBIS With Love Buda 860206
Yom continues his career project of stretching klezmer as a genre in every con- ceivable direction,
fusing it with the gamut of traditional and popular forms that he has studied and mas- tered. He cites Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Prokofiev as influences, while for his new band he has composed a bedrock of jazz, pop, trip-hop, prog, psychedelia and tradi- tional music from the Balkans and Romania. The result is an endearingly gauche and skil- ful melange which actually sounds something like a klezmer remix of an early seventies Gainsbourg album. It doesn’t always work but the unashamed straining for transcen- dence makes for a fascinating listen.
Yom imagines himself into a superheroic guise in order to achieve his stated aim of emancipation and he layers a number of des- perate peaks into every track. The album con- cludes, though, in ‘a cry of victory as an admission of powerlessness’. This cry alone is
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