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too, including a beautifully pure Bold Dragoon from Heather, and Bellamy’s The Old Miser offers an interesting flavour of the colourful solo singer he was to become.
And, for all its faults, Galleries does offer a contrasting perception of their voices when pitched against the precise musical accompa- niment of the Early Music Consort. It also includes a great version of Bitter Withy, plus a rare chance to hear Bellamy as impressive old blues howler – albeit in parody form with record scratches and all – on Entracte: Stones In My Passway. He could have been a serious blues man, he really could. And this package serves as both valuable introduction and joy- ous celebration of a group who still sound entirely different to anything before or since.
www.bgo-records.com Colin Irwin
MLIMANI PARK ORCHESTRA / INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRA SAFARI SOUND
Zanzibara 7 – Sikinde vs Ndekule Buda Musique 860241
A Zanzibara release, but important to note that the label actually deals with all the east coast of Africa. Dar es
Salaam is where this music here comes from, a late-’80s assembly of superb musiki wa dansi tracks from two of Tanzania’s leading orchestras of the time. It’s all arranged in the form of a Battle of the Bands with alternat- ing tracks from the Mlimani Park and Safari bands. Sounds a bit contrived, but in practice this does not make for bad listening. It does underline the differences – and actually cor- responds with the bands’ status as the two best in Dar es Salaam, each followed by their hordes of partisan fans. The rivalry began in 1985 when local impresario Hugo Kisima poached six members of the Mlimani Park Orchestra – then the unchallenged kingpins, high-stepping residents at the Mlimani Park bar – to be the nucleus of a reformed Safari band to play at his Safari Resort in the sub- urbs. Feelings ran high at this treachery. Bat- tle lines were drawn. The bands released mes- sage-laden songs and counter-songs that stung. Great fun – and they spurred each other to new musical heights.
Mlimani Park Orchestra CAPERCAILLIE
At The Heart Of It All Vertical Records VERTCD100
Thirty years on, and with their first album in ten years, Caper- caillie once again demonstrate convinc-
ingly they are still masters at introducing new life into traditional Gaelic songs and tunes. Karen Matheson’s singing is as glorious as ever whether singing up-tempo waulking songs or doomy ballads, and Charlie McKer- ron, Manus Lunny, Donald Shaw, Ewan Vernal and Mike McGoldrick have always been in the ‘band to die for’ category despite all the young masters and mistresses that have emerged more recently.
Coming back full circle with pretty much an entirely acoustic album, the open- ing waulking song S’Och A’ Dhomhnaill Oig Ghaolaich features atmospheric sax from Edinburgh jazzer Tommy Smith weaving in and out of the fiddle and pipes but that and some modest brass elsewhere is about as far as it goes on the innovation front – there’s nothing to frighten the horses. Just fright- eningly good music and beautiful singing, with occasional friendly help from the cream of the crop like Gerry O’Connor, Kathleen MacInnes, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever, Aidan O’Rourke, and some fiery piping from Jar- lath Henderson.
The Jura Wedding Reels and Cal’s Jigs show they can still rock acoustically with the best of them, without any fuss or bother, like a well-oiled machine… just wonderful. They
Musiki wa dansi was built on the Con- golese rumba model, with gentle exposition and then, foundations laid and anticipation high, stopping and moving up a gear with the supercharged seben section. Many emi- gré Congolese musicians fleeing Mobutu’s Zaïre found work in East Africa. But the Tan- zanian style, incorporating local elements to produce a more compelling product, ended up faster and some would say more exhilarat- ing than Congolese rumba. When you have either of these great bands at full stretch, smooth harmonies urged on by blazing brass, light drums skittering beside circling guitars, it’s a very special kind of music. This antholo- gy captures the magic perfectly.
www.budamusique.com Rick Sanders
Photo: Ian Anderson
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