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One of the women in Farafi comes from the US, the other from Britain, with French-Indian roots. Darlini Singh Kaul and Jot Tyson met in Goa in India, started singing together unaccompanied, found their voices and musical ideas clicked and decided to do more with it. Now they both live in Berlin, and after a pair of official bootlegs, this real debut does credit to their mix of percussion and singing, along with ngoni, kashaka, and ghungroos,, The duo often sing in languages which aren’t theirs, mostly from Africa, as well as one of their own invention.
So far, so cultural imperialist, right? Well, not really. The music might nod vaguely towards different cultures, but everything here is their own invention. While the heart of it all is just the pair of them, they actually sound at their best and most adventurous when accompanied by a full band, as on the opener, “Desert Sun,” which quickly catches fire. There are plenty of African inflections, yet it still possesses something that’s completely its own – a manifesto for what’s to come on the disc. At times it can get pretty wild, with the electric guitar pushing hard towards the boundaries of atonality, as with the solo on the closer, “Kele.” But it works. The band fires up the women and they respond. Individually together they have excellent voices, but it’s together that they shine, becoming more than the sum of the parts, strong, confident and certain, no matter what tongue they’re using.
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Yes, it does get hippy-dippyish at times. But thankfully it’s only for brief moments, then the music is blazing again. There’s real power here, vocally and instrumentally, and in the duo’s songs; for all the cues they take from Africa, they keep the listener’s attention. Farafi really do have a warmth and will that’s all their own. – Chris Nickson
Find the band online
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