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Narinder Biba and Asa Singh Mastana sprin- kled in. (For the numerically alert, Main Tenu Yaad Aavanga was a vehicle for Mastana and Kaur.) Japjit Kaur sings them well and confi- dently – as she does for the Scots composer Nigel Osborne’s five-part The Five Elements with the quartet. And just when you think you have Rakshasa sussed despite it continu- ally springing surprises, it reveals the cun- ning trap that is Thacker’s solo track Rak- shasa. For music, for packaging (Sam Hayles’ zinging artwork is revealing of Tantric Bud- dhist, fractal and psychedelic awarenesses), and for inspirations, Rakshasa is one of my albums of 2013.
www.simonthacker.com Ken Hunt
MULELE MATONDO AFRIKA Prophecy Haile Music HAIL001
Shame about the drab cover, which gives no hint of the rhythmic fireworks within – a real- ly brave and confident Congolese rumba band from a multifarious bunch of people based initially in Leeds and then in London – some from DRC, others from elsewhere. Well recorded, meticulously arranged, bursting with energy, real animation and some of the most convincing Congolese guitar yet played by a Brit; this hits the replay button. Back to the golden days when they didn’t have synths and they did have brass.
Born in Kinshasa, Mulele Matondo Afri- ka is a founder member of Congo Dia Ntotila, many of whose members appear on the album that goes out under his own name. Though not lacking in rhythmic drive, Prophecy is not a party album. Meditative, critical, interspersed with audio quotations from African politicians, it’s a subtle and sen- suous sound that he aims for. The music is acoustic, light-fingered, frequently taking surprising turns, as for example when we hear possibly the world’s first seben played on a kora. Ambitious, accomplished – he’s a lovely guitar player – and committed.
www.congodiantotila.com www.mulelematondo.com
Rick Sanders
ROY BOOK BINDER The Good Book PEGLeg PL7007-7
Consistency is a good word to describe Roy Book Binder. Ever since his debut album back in ’71 Roy has kept faith with the same style of acoustic ragtimey bluesy music… the kind he learned first-hand from such legendary practi- tioners as Reverend Gary Davis and Pink Anderson. Never one to deviate from his cho- sen path, Roy, yet again, with this new record- ing demonstrates his mastery of his chosen medium; his guitar picking fluent as ever, his entertaining vocalisation delivered with a wink and a nod imbuing each song with knowing suggestiveness. His guitar lines may be lifted straight from the grooves of 78s but for The Good Book all the lyrics are self-com- posed and range from religious (The Good Book), the humorous (Electric Cigarette Blues), the descriptive (Step Right Up), on to the tribute blues (They Called Him Junior)… all about Robert Lockwood Junior. Helping Roy out adding musical variety to various dif- ferent tracks are Frank Bowman (clarinet), Damon Fowler (lap steel), ‘Spanky’ Bergene (harmonica), T-Bone Hamilton (bass) and Glenn Evans (percussion). With just nine songs and one guitar instrumental, The Good Book is an album that’s short… but very sweet.
www.roybookbinder.com Dave Peabody
THE WILLIS CLAN Chapter One – Roots Own Label
The emergence of the Willis Clan from Nashville Tennessee proved a proverbial bolt from the blue. Marching away with first prize in the group competition of the 2012 All-Ire- land Fleadh Ceol in Cavan and mentored by Stockton’s Wing fiddler Maurice Lennon, they immediately created headlines. Ranging in ages from 6 to 18, their debut album Chapter One – Roots is fresh, lively and pensive by turn. Their multi-instrumental abilities exude on tune sets like Boys In Boston, its looping structure recalling Lúnasa while Lonely Castle William Set balances the reflective and the cerebral with commendable maturity. Vocally Ship Of The Line, The Rambler and A Travel- ling Song cross traditional balladry with com- positional skill belying their years. Delightful- ly unprecocious, The Willis Clan have poise, elegance, experience and talent by the buck- etful – one to watch definitely
www.thewillisclan.com John O’Regan
DOM DUFF Babel Pow WowPaganab DDFF005
Since going solo in 2000 Breton singer Dom Duff has released five albums, in the genre he calls ‘power folk’, and this latest offering can only cement his reputation as a solid rocker happy to play big stages with a full band. The fan-funded production is glossy, the CD art- fully designed and packaged, and the album promises much in so many ways.
One has to get used to Duff’s craggy coastline of a voice first of all, and overcome the difficulty, for those of us in Greater Britain, of gleaning meaning from his Babel of languages (Breton, English and French all feature here). The songs are generally driving and insistent (one hesitates to say anthemic), the lyrics, thoughtfully translated in the accompanying booklet, speak of loss, battles long gone and a Brythonic alienation and pride that must appeal to the jumping crowds in Brittany, judging by his reputation there.
Listening to this album it’s hard to find many hooks to hang on to; the urgent riffs – fiddles and vocals doubling guitars in true power-folk style – seem nonetheless to elude any notions of catchiness. Could we really sing along at this Pow Wow of his I wonder? Or remember any of the songs after hearing them once? Twice? The title track grooves
Roy Bookbinder
promisingly, different to the rock rhythms of the other songs, with a nearly memorable chorus, and like other tracks this sounds like an energetic stadium performance, so one must admire him and the band for their energy and for getting such a vibe in the stu- dio. The sound is tight, professional and beautifully recorded. More gentle tracks – Treizh and Koroll Gouez – break the rhythmi- cal pace and though not notable melodically, mine a more beautiful vein. Chikoloden Groove provides welcome relief. A diddly tune which on other albums might have been easily passed over, here hints at a more fruitful direction for the music, as does Buzhug’O’Matik with its melodic riffs, though on this latter number the vocal pro- trudes roughly – a hazardous rocky peninsu- la. The brief final track, Foeter Breizh, sound- ing like a nasal playground taunt, does stick in the memory, for better or worse.
Yes, one is left with a sense of harsh lands and cruel sea breakers – and nearby stages resounding to some urgent stomping in a cause long fought. Earnest, irrascible and a bit brash, Babel Pow Wow translates precariously onto CD but, after its fashion, it certainly rocks. Live in its natural environ- ment, who knows? Maybe I’d stomp and sing along too.
www.domduff.com Napoleon Winfield
SOLO RAZAFINDRAKOTO
Solonaives / Sculptures With GAD Acoustic Music 319.1494.2
Astounding feats of guitar pyrotechnics from long-time accompanist to Miriam Makeba. Razafindrakoto mixes Malagasy salegy with blues, Cameroonian bikutsi, Brazilianisms and goodness knows what. You wish he would stand still occasionally but jumps from phrase to phrase, from style to style, on lots of short pieces that amaze but don’t seem to resolve. On the second CD he leads the listener into a world of multiplying loops, wild seat-of-the- pants overdubbing, and all the gifts a studio can give. Same criticism as before: moments of great beauty, but no repose – there are just too many hares to chase. Rigorous editing might have added coherence.
www.acoustic-music.de Rick Sanders LIGHT IN BABYLON
Life Sometimes Doesn’t Give You Space Own Label
An unlikely collaboration between Michal Elia Kamal, an Israeli singer of Iranian origin, French guitarist Julien Demarque and Mete- han Ciftci who hails from Turkey and plays the santur (Iranian dulcimer), Light In Baby- lon met in Istanbul a couple of years back and peddle a heady acoustic mix that slips around the Med, the Sephardic world and the Middle East on this, their first album proper. They’re joined by percussionist Demir Asaad and Jack Butler on bass (plus, at various points, clar- inet, violin, accordeon and hurdy gurdy). Ms Kamal sings from the heart, all skirt swirling swing and declamatory passion. Ciftci’s santur features prominently and provides an unusu- al base for the cross cultural high jinks that surround it. Arrangements are imaginative but uncluttered and there are some fine songs (music by the core trio, lyrics by Kamal). A celebration of the cosmopolitan traditions of both Istanbul and the Sephardic Jewish community and another example of the great music that’s coming out of the Eastern Mediterranean right now.
www.lightinbabylon.com Jamie Renton
Photo: Dave Peabody
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