|
Collaborations between musicians from seemingly disparate cultures or geographically distant places are certainly nothing new; they also often serve more to show listeners what these ostensibly dissimilar cultures actually have in common, as so much music is coincidentally or otherwise connected by instrumentation, tone, or rhythm. The Bedouin rababa isn’t so much different from the Pulaar riti; Northeast Brazil and certain pockets of the southern US both have rural accordion music; Academic minimalism has some kind of connection to trance music from Balochistan. Of course, the pentatonic scale, on display in this album’s title as well as its music, plays a not insignificant role in how we hear familiarity in each other’s music.
Yet, the musicians here are from a different version of the typically problematic terms “east” and “west,” in this case Niger and Ethiopia, both landlocked African nations with undeniably rich music scenes that have received more global attention over the last 20 years. Guitarist Alhousseini Anivolla is known for his work with Etran Finatawa, while Girum Mezmur, a musical chameleon, tends to lend his six-string energy to western-derived soul-jazz fusion all the while doing a huge part to keep Addis Ababa’s fertile musical scene chugging along. Because Mezmur, who has been on the scene for closer to 30 years, can be found playing in any number of styles, it’s not surprising that he bends to compliment and comment on his West-African partner’s grooves here for music that fits right into the single-chord hypnosis Tuareg desert guitar is famous for invoking.
|
|
In fact, five out of the six musicians here - also including hand drum, mandolin, masinko (single-string fiddle), and krar - are from Ethiopia. Yet, because the masinko, though Ethiopian, has a similar, desert-dry tone to any number of Western African fiddles (the n’jarka, the soukou, and the aforementioned riti among them), it would be easy to assume the player was also from Niger or Mali. In other words, the masinko feels right at home here.
And like Etran Finatawa’s music- or that of any number of similar bands- this music is dominated by pulse, building on the simplest ingredients and sweeping its listeners along as tunes kick up steam. And this album, recorded live in Nairobi, contains an infectious throb that runs throughout its 8 tracks. The lyrics, sung by Anviolla, deal with survival, pride, unity and awareness, forces outside of our control. One need not have a clue as to who is from where to truly fall in love with this music; however, understanding how difficult it is becoming for artists from these regions to connect - due to extremist politics in the Sahel - just makes this record all the more a reason to celebrate. - Bruce Miller
|
