Songlines Magazine (July 2016, #119) by Songlines Magazine

+ FREE CD

The Best Music from Around the World

119 JULY 2016

REVIEWS

FANFARE CIOCĂRLIA RLIA AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM LES AMAZONES D’AFRIQUE

Romanian brass band blast off!

16/05/2016 12:07

NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD

Fanfare Ciocărlia Free tracks

MAARJA NUUT

THE BEST NEW RELEASES

CORINNE BAILEY RAE’S PLAYLIST

FANTASTIC NEGRITO

DAMON ALBARN’S AFRICA EXPRESS

MUSIC FROM… TOP OF THE

WORLDVerde, Brazil, Trinidad, Cape Wales, Myanmar and more

ISSUE 119

Reunites Syrian musicians

CORINNE BAILEY RAE’S PLAYLIST

CALYPSO ROSE

The Caribbean queen returns with gusto Featuring Fanfare Ciocărlia, Leyla McCalla, Bellowhead, Mahsa Vahdat, William Onyeabor, Melt Yourself Down, Ibrahim Ferrer and more...

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£5.95 ISSUE 119 JULY 2016 www.songlines.co.uk www.facebook.com/songlines 24/05/2016 09:46

STWCD95 This compilation & © 2016 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd info@songlines.co.uk, www.songlines.co.uk Executive producer Paul Geoghegan. Compiled and sequenced byJo Frost & Jamie Kyei Manteaw. Design by Calvin McKenzie. Mastering by Good Imprint. CD pressing by Software Logistics Ltd. The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music.

WELCOME

Mark Allen Group St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Rd, London, SE24 0PB, UK +44 (0)20 7738 5454 info@songlines.co.uk www.songlines.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS

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+44 (0)20 7501 6683 Editor-in-chief Simon Broughton Publisher Paul Geoghegan Editor Jo Frost Deputy Editor Alexandra Petropoulos Art Director Calvin McKenzie Content & Marketing Executive, News Editor Edward Craggs Advertisement Manager James Anderson-Hanney Online Content Editor James McCarthy Reviews Editor Matthew Milton Listings Editor Tatiana Rucinska World Cinema Editor John Atkinson Cover image Simon Broughton Contributing Editors Jane Cornwell, Mark Ellingham & Nigel Williamson Assisted in this issue by Emma Baker & Lindsey Butlin

Celebrating creolisation

common theme often reveals itself in each issue just before we send it to the printers. I could pretend that it’s all part of our editorial master plan – that we devise these global themes in advance – but the truth is it’s

much more haphazard than that. The recurring idea this issue seems to be creole culture. Peter Culshaw gets on his Soapbox (on p97) and cites various ‘epicentres’ of Creole culture where ‘you get a strong feeling of celebration and enjoyment of life.’ He goes on to claim that ‘the most mixed cultures are the most creative and positive.’ This is a sentiment echoed during my recent visit to the Atlantic Music Expo in Cape Verde (see p83). This archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean boasts one of the oldest creole cultures in the world and their strength has been to absorb myriad influences, largely due to their geographical location and historical links to the slave trade. Cape Verde’s former minister of culture and life-long musical ambassador, Mário Lúcio Sousa, spoke to me about the idea of creolisation as a kind of identity: “We are all creole – creole is not a mixture, it’s not half black, half white, it’s not a religion, it’s a state of mind.” Likewise the Brazilian big band Bixiga 70 (see p30) are assimilating various musical influences, making it impossible to categorise their music. And our cover stars, Fanfare Ciocărlia (featured on p22) have their very own particular Balkan-Central European ‘creole’ style. So let’s defy all the pervasive, purist jingoism that is currently dominating the mainstream media and celebrate the fact that, in some form or other, we’re all creole.

“We are all creole – creole is not a mixture, it’s not half black, half white... it’s a state of mind”

Jo Frost, editor

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE INCLUDE

Intern Jamie Kyei Manteaw Subscriptions Director Sally Boettcher Editorial Director Martin Cullingford Publishing Director Paul Geoghegan CEO Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen

© MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd 2016 All rights reserved. ISSN 1464-8113. MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd is part of the Mark Allen Group. Printing Pensord Press Ltd Record trade distribution WWMD Ltd 0121 788 3112 Newstrade distribution COMAG 01895 433600 The paper used within this publication has been sourced from Chain-of-Custody certified manufacturers, operating within international environmental standards, to ensure sustainable sourcing of the raw materials, sustainable production and to minimise our carbon footprint.

Elliw Iwan Elliw promotes and organises Welsh folk gigs in Cardiff and sits on the board of TRAC (Wales’ Folk Development organisation). She offers an insight into the National Eisteddfod on p80.

John Atkinson (@mrauteur) John runs the film studies publisher Auteur and was the former editor of kamera.co.uk. He is a moderately proficient ukulele player and once shook Bruce Springsteen’s hand. Read his world cinema reviews on p68.

Jane Cornwell (@janesworlde) Jane is a longtime Songlines contributor, jazz critic of the London Evening Standard and writer on music, arts and culture here and in Australia, her birthplace. This issue, she talks to Afro Celt Sound System (p34).

Songlines was launched in 1999 and is the definitive magazine for world music – music that has its roots in all parts of the globe, from Mali to Mexico, India to Iraq. Whether this music is defined as traditional, contemporary, folk or fusion, Songlines is the only magazine to truly represent and embrace it. However, Songlines is not just about music, but about how the music fits into the landscape: it’s about politics, history and identity. Delivered in both print and digital formats, Songlines, through its extensive articles and reviews, is your essential and independent guide to a world of music and culture, whether you are starting on your journey of discovery or are already a seasoned fan.

@SonglinesMag

facebook.com/songlines

google.com/+songlines ISSUE 119

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CONTENTS

14 Roots

83 Dispatch

Forest Whitaker who features in the remake of Roots

Steve Dietl

UPFRONT

FEATURES

REVIEWS

06 11 16

Fanfare Ciocărlia

Orchestra of Syrian Musicians

46 50 54 60 61 62 67 68 72

18 19 20 21

Top of the World CD What’s New Introducing... Maarja Nuut & Fantastic Negrito Simon Says... Letters Songlines Music Travel Spotlight: Les Amazones d’Afrique

30 34

The Romanian Gypsy band celebrate 20 years

Brought back together for a European tour

Bixiga 70

The Brazilian big band

Afro Celt Sound System

The long-awaited return of the pioneering group

World d Music Meets Early Music The meeting of two worlds of music

“Syria changed almost overnight. Since then I’ve watched from a distance and felt utterly helpless”

Africa Americas Europe Asia Middle East Fusion Books World Cinema Live Reviews

REGULARS 74 77 78 80 83 85 87 94 97 98

My World: Corinne Bailey Rae Postcard from Yangon, Myanmar Beginner’s Guide: Calypso Rose Festival Pass: The National Eisteddfod Dispatch from Cape Verde Quickfire Gig Guide Overseas Festivals Soapbox Essential Ten: Calypso Albums

17 Fantastic Negrito

Damon Albarn reunites Syrian musicians, p28 W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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TOP OF THE WORLD

16/05/2016 12:07

01 Fanfare Ciocărlia feat Puerto Candelaria ‘Fiesta de Negritos’ 02 Elza Soares ‘Mulher do Fim do Mundo’ 03 Kel Assouf ‘Tikounen’ 04 Leyla McCalla ‘Peze Café’ 05 Matthias Loibner ‘Balkany Flowers’ 06 Maarja Nuut ‘Hobusemäng’ 07 Melt Yourself Down ‘Yazzan Dayra’ 08 Derek Gripper ‘Lampedusa’ 09 Mahsa Vahdat ‘Lullaby’ 10 Bellowhead ‘Haul Away’ (live)

Free tracks

THE BEST NEW RELEASES

CORINNE BAILEY RAE’S PLAYLIST

TOP

OF THE WORLD

TOP

OF THE WORLD

ISSUE 119 119 PLUS 5 tracks chosen by Corinne Bailey Rae 11 William Onyeabor ‘Fantastic Man’ 12 Amadou & Mariam ‘M’bifé’ 13 Letta Mbulu ‘Kube’ 14 Umalali ‘Hattie’ 15 Ibrahim Ferrer ‘Herido de Sombras’

On your free CD – the editor’s selection of the top ten new releases reviewed in this issue

Featuring Fanfare Ciocărlia, Leyla McCalla, Bellowhead, Mahsa Vahdat, William Onyeabor, Melt Yourself Down, Ibrahim Ferrer and more... SLTOTWCD-119-onbody.indd 1

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STWCD95 This compilation & © 2016 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd info@songlines.co.uk, www.songlines.co.uk Executive producer Paul Geoghegan. Compiled and sequenced by Jo Frost & Jamie Kyei Manteaw. Design by Calvin McKenzie. Mastering by Good Imprint. CD pressing by Software Logistics Ltd. The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music.

Don’t miss next issue: Singersongwriter Tom Robinson’s playlist

05 Matthias Loibner ‘Balkany Flowers’ (5:08)

10 Bellowhead ‘Haul Away’ (live) (5:13)

04 Leyla McCalla ‘Peze Café’ (3:55)

09 Mahsa Vahdat ‘Lullaby’ (2:04)

14 Umalali ‘Hattie’ (4:05)

TOP OF THE WORLD PLAYLIST TRACKS SLTOTWCD-119-sleeve.indd 1

07 Melt Yourself Down ‘Yazzan Dayra’ (3:46)

13 Letta Mbulu ‘Kube’ (3:21)

01 Fanfare Ciocărlia feat Puerto Candelaria ‘Fiesta de Negritos’ (3:48)

12 Amadou & Mariam ‘M’bifé’ (2:15)

06 Maarja Nuut ‘Hobusemäng’ (4:18)

11 William Onyeabor ‘Fantastic Man’ (6:31)

CORINNE BAILEY RAE’S PLAYLIST

TOP OF THE WORLD SELECTION

10 tracks from this issue’s best new albums + 5 bonus tracks exclusively with the July 2016 issue of Songlines

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06 Maarja Nuut ‘Hobusemäng’ From Une Meeles on Maarja Nuut

From Onwards to Mars! on Asphalt Tango Records

Fiddler and singer Maarja Nuut delivers

Balkan brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia offer

her experimental second album – an

14 tracks on their latest record, released

exceptional listen that draws influences

in celebration of their 20th anniversary in

from her Estonian roots and displays her

the music business. See p55

promising talent. See p58

02 Elza Soares ‘Mulher a Fim do Mundo’

07 Melt Yourself Down

Elza Soares, now in her late 70s,

Utilising abrasive sounds and forward-

demonstrates why she is considered one

thinking production, the London-based

of Brazil’s best samba singers in a bold

band Melt Yourself Down show they are

release that is a fiery mix of original,

a force to be reckoned with on this game-

uncompromising tracks. See p52

changing album. See p63

03 Kel Assouf ‘Tikounen’

08 Derek Gripper

Another guitar group to come out of the

With great aplomb, the South African

Touareg music scene, Kel Assouf return

takes on the compositions of the great

with a strong, rocking second album.

21-stringed kora players on his classical

Powerful rhythms and contagious grooves

guitar. Gripper’s delicate transcriptions

are aplenty on this feisty record. See p47

deliver beautiful results. See p46

04 Leyla McCalla ‘Peze Café’

09 Mahsa Vahdat

An outstanding sophomore album from

Vahdat is one of only a few female singers

the young cellist and banjo player. Three

living in Iran to record regularly outside

years on from her stellar debut, McCalla

the country, and here she produces a

once again draws from her Haitian

profoundly personal album with no

heritage and Creole influences. See p51

instrumental accompaniment. See p61

05 Matthias Loibner ‘Balkany Flowers’

10 Bellowhead

Austrian composer Matthias Loibner

Bellowhead’s final album highlights the

possesses extraordinary skill on the

11-piece big band in blistering live form.

hurdy-gurdy; his new album shows the

Known for their fantastic live shows, the

astonishing range this unusual instrument

album exhibits why these guys will be

has in his hands. See p56

dearly missed. See p54

From The Woman at the End of the World on Mais Um Discos

From Tikounen on Igloo Records

From A Day for the Hunter, a Day for the Prey on Jazz Village

From Lichtungen on Traumton Records

06 S O N G L I N E S

02 Elza Soares ‘Mulher do Fim do Mundo’ (4:40)

08 Derek Gripper ‘Lampedusa’ (4:18)

01 Fanfare Ciocărlia feat Puerto Candelaria ‘Fiesta de Negritos’

03 Kel Assouf ‘Tikounen’ (4:08)

‘Yazzan Dayra’

From Last Evenings on Earth on The Leaf Label

‘Lampedusa’

From Libraries on Fire on Derek Gripper

‘Lullaby’

From The Sun Will Rise (A Cappella) on Kirkelig Kulturverksted

‘Haul Away’ (live) From Live: The Farewell Tour on Navigator Records

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+ CORINNE BAILEY RAE’S PLAYLIST 11

11 William Onyeabor ‘Fantastic Man’ From Who is William Onyeabor? on Luaka Bop “This is my most recent discovery. The guitarist in our band got me this album for my birthday and I absolutely loved it. I like the production, you know, it’s unusual. It’s lilting and spacious”

12 Amadou & Mariam ‘M’bifé’ From Dimanche à Bamako on Because Music

“I love their love story,” Bailey Rae enthuses, “the fact that they’re both united in their music. I think there’s just something really beautiful about the depth of their love.”

13 Letta Mbulu ‘Kube’ From Naturally on BGP Records

Bailey Rae was first introduced to South African singer Mbulu’s music through the album Free Soul, produced by David Axelrod – “I love what [Axelrod] does to familiar music to make it unfamiliar.”

14 Umalali ‘Hattie’

“We’re all connected. We’re all having similar experiences. I think music is powerful if someone’s writing about something that’s very personal to them, because it naturally chimes with so many people across the planet”

Turn to p74 for the full interview with Corinne Bailey Rae

From The Garifuna Women’s Project on Cumbancha This was a recent discovery after a trip to Belize: “I really like that this is a woman’s collective of musicians from four different countries. I just love this kind of collaboration between women.”

15 Ibrahim Ferrer ‘Herido de Sombras’

From Buena Vista Social Club Presents... Ibrahim Ferrer on World Circuit “Ibrahim Ferrer’s music spoke to me because of the way that it was recorded,

NEXT ISSUE: LEE HALL’S PLAYLIST The playwright and screenwriter (Billy Elliot, War Horse) chooses his five favourite world music tracks to be featured on the covermount CD of the August/ September 2016 issue (#120).

with the traditional musicians and instruments, and just the kind of crying nature of his voice.”

W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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INTRODUCING...

Maarja Nuut

Bastiaan Springer catches up with the singer and fiddle player who’s been making waves with her experimental take on Estonia’s traditional music

here has been a buzz among world music aficionados for a few years now around Estonian fiddler and singer Maarja Nuut. This young, very talented musician stole many hearts with her spellbinding showcase at WOMEX 2014 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In a unique way she combines classical and traditional Estonian dance tunes, songs and stories with live looping. A solo artist, Nuut commands the stage with her mystical songs, haunting vocals, dancing and foot percussion. She often starts her songs with a single violin motif, deftly looping it and adding harmonic layers with voice and violin improvisations. Her magical music can be categorised as minimalistic folk, leaning strongly on tradition and adapted to the present. With elegant songs about silken-feathered birds, horses and ghosts Nuut creates dream-like music, inviting her audience to travel to other times and places. “For me, music and the images and stories hidden in it offer an opportunity to travel from one reality to another, visiting places where everything is possible,” she explains. “We spend a large part of our lives sleeping. There are also many different borderline states, for example lucid dreaming. I think excessive rationality is restrictive and in a wider sense dreams give us a chance to sense life in all its possible shades.” Maarja Nuut was born in 1986 in the small Estonian town Rakvere, where she started learning the violin when she was seven. She continued studying at the Tallinn Music High School and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. Love for traditional Estonian music inspired her to study at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture

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Academy before going on to take a master’s degree in Stockholm. Her debut in 2013, Soolo, was the result of her research into early 20thcentury Estonian field recordings and contains a fascinating mix of Estonian folk, spoken words and remarkable, constantly changing soundscapes. “Soolo was rather sketchy, a combination of different approaches and ideas, put together in the middle of a process of research.” The album received a lot of attention, rave reviews and invitations to perform outside Estonia. In recent years Nuut has toured the US, Canada, the UK and Europe, making her the face of Estonia’s recent folk revival. On her new album Une Meeles (In the Hold of a Dream) Nuut again explores the boundary between reality and dream with lyrical songs. What

makes this modern folk masterpiece so exceptional is the delicate balance between Nuut’s technique and almost psychedelic improvisations. “My new album is the outcome of an internal, ripening process,” she explains. “I have created a lot of new material and explored my technical set-up. It’s a slow process but my new album feels much more solid than my debut.” It’s a breathtaking introduction to Nuut’s melancholic dream world, which is rooted in the mysticism of the Estonian soul and nature. Transferring this fairylike Estonian folk music to the 21st century makes Maarja Nuut one of today’s most interesting traditional music innovators.

+ ALBUM Une Meeles is a Top of the World review in this issue, see p58

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Fantastic Negrito

The American singer has reinvented himself and just released a new album. He talks to Jim Hickson about his recent good fortune

hat happens when a downon-their-luck pop-R&B singer leaves the music world in dire circumstances and turns their hand to farming (both legal and otherwise), before feeling that creative spark again? Well, if that singer is Xavier Dphrepaulezz, they re-invent themselves as Fantastic Negrito, one of the hottest talents on the blues scene. Back in the 90s, Dphrepaulezz’s R&B sound landed him a milliondollar record deal, but after a notsuccessful-enough first album, that deal turned into major label hell and Dphrepaulezz turned his back on music. Twenty years later, and under the guise of Fantastic Negrito, he is making the airwaves buzz anew.

The sounds of Dphrepaulezz’s childhood were jazz, blues, classical and traditional African music – his Somali-Caribbean father forbade popular music, calling it a corrupting influence. He says his early exposure to the blues fell on unappreciative ears: “I wasn’t ready to hear it as a youngster, I thought it was terrible. But after I turned 40, and I’d buried a couple people, and I’d lived through tragedies, and I’d lived life, for some reason it just resonated with me so much, spiritually – because I had lived!” The birth of Fantastic Negrito was a classic rise from the ashes. When a car crash left him in a coma for three weeks, he decided life was too short to make music you don’t believe in.

It was five years later, singing to his infant son, that he realised what music he did believe in. Since this musical rebirth, Fantastic Negrito’s music is like looking into an alternate dimension of 21st-century blues, where 70s middleof-the-road blues-rock never happened “It’s blues but it’s got a gospel-punk delivery – some guy called me ‘the punk rock Al Green’!” “I was entrenched and indoctrinated into viewing music differently from such a young age… the things I didn’t really dig as a kid really came back as an adult.” With this musical progression, he is looking back – and the link to African music is still there. Asked what sounds he’s digging at the moment, there’s no hesitation: “Songhoy Blues. They’re amazing. I met them in Australia and we jammed together. I’ve been a fan ever since.” It’s a partnership that he wouldn’t mind developing. “I like all collaborations, as long as they’re real. It would be interesting because there’s a different school of thought going on in terms of the approach to the music.” Fantastic Negrito’s first album only came out in June, but the music has already been heaped in hype: he won NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert Contest out of 7,000 entrants, provided the theme tune for hit drama series Hand of God and was personally invited to perform at Bernie Sanders’ New Hampshire rally. And that’s on top of his recentlyfinished 43-date tour, which took in four continents over 45 days – “it was hardcore!” he says. So after a life of reinvention, what’s next? “Who knows? I never knew there would be a Fantastic Negrito. It’s just happening now and I’m enjoying it.”

+ ALBUM Fantastic Negrito’s album,

The Last Days of Oakland, is out now

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FA N FA R E C I O CA R L IA

Simon Broughton

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A Life with Flowers

Simon Broughton travels to the home of one of Romaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foremost Gypsy groups, who are celebrating 20 years in the business

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BIXIGA 70

An Original Afro Beat

The Brazilian big band Bixiga 70 were a huge hit when they made their UK debut earlier this year. Russ Slater talks to them about what defines their big, bold brass sound, prior to their return later this month

ixiga 70 are a community, a group of ten Brazilians who live and breathe music. With each album they’ve released their sound has become more unified, their influences – that have a strong base in African music and its diaspora, whether that be jazz, funk or countless Brazilian genres – converging into a style that is distinctly their own. The world of Bixiga 70 is a harmonious state with no leader, and nowhere is this clearer than when they play live, each one of the members playing in exquisite union; waves of brass surging forward, driven by percussion and bass, embellished with catchy-as-hell guitar and keyboard grooves, each musician getting their chance to shine before returning effortlessly into the collective. Prior to their UK debut in January this year – an exhilarating show in which East London’s Rich Mix proved too small to contain them, leaving the audience so blissfully euphoric it even attempted a conga line – I sat down with the group to discuss their rise and sense of togetherness. With four members of the group facing me, and four sitting behind me, their answers spark from one to the other, each carrying on the thread until invariably they all burst into laughter. The excitement before their British show was clearly building. For such a united group, their origins reveal a surprisingly fortuitous story. Keyboards and guitar player Mauricio Fleury was a struggling musician back in 2007 – “[I was] almost giving up because I couldn’t pay my bills” – when he was invited to a Red Bull Music Academy event in Toronto. One of the few other attendees who hailed from outside of the Western world was Nigerian drummer and bandleader Tony Allen and the two bonded over their outsider status. “[We] just got together and really had fun playing,” says Fleury. At the time he had no great musical plan, but the meeting with Allen sowed a seed: “It made me re-evaluate lots of stuff I had been working on. My head turned very much to this Afro thing.” After returning to São Paulo, he was asked by Bruno Morais (a respected Brazilian singer-songwriter) to help out with a recording taking place in a studio in Bixiga. Little did Fleury know it but this would soon become his second home. It was

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BIXIGA 70

here that the rest of the musicians who now comprise Bixiga 70 were based. Up to that point they had been involved in a wide variety of bands and shows, often with a reggae, samba or Afro-Brazilian focus, such as the members who played with Guinean singer Fanta Konaté (of the famous Konaté musical dynasty), learning the malinké drumming patterns that would become an element of the band’s sound. One day Fleury and percussionist Décio 7 decided to work together on that “Afro thing” that Allen had got him thinking about. The idea was to give Afrobeat a Brazilian twist. “It was not just like ‘take this Tony Allen beat,’” says Fleury, “it had to [reference Afrobeat] but it was a mix, it was like a Brazilian kind of disco.” After spending a whole day in the studio they couldn’t find what they were looking for. “We were playing for six or seven hours and it didn’t work,” remembers Fleury, who had pushed Décio hard in finding this new rhythm, but on the second day they had more success, finding what he calls “an original beat.” Excited by the possibilities, Décio called his musician friends to put together a big band capable of playing this “Afro” music. Before they had hardly had a chance to practice, some DJ friends in São Paulo asked if the nascent

group wanted to play Fela Day, their annual Afrobeat event, taking place in just three months time. The group took on the challenge, but with little time, they had to work fast. “We had no repertoire,” says Décio. “We rushed to make the show, to find the songs,” adds Cris Scabello who plays electric guitar. That show happened in October 2010 and Bixiga 70, even though they weren’t even called that yet, were born; by April the following year they had named themselves after the São Paulo neighbourhood where they were based, adding the 70 as a nod to Fela Kuti’s Africa 70, and were in the studio recording their self-titled debut. That was succeeded by another selftitled album in 2013 (later retitled Ocupai for its international release) and III, which came out in 2015 (reviewed in #111). By their own admission the group hadn’t found the sound they wanted when they recorded their first album, retrospectively feeling that it was premature. Scabello has a saying that goes “the first album was the infancy, the second the adolescence and the third is the adult.” If there’s any characteristic that defines their move into adulthood, then it must be their extraordinary togetherness. “On the first record the songs had authors, someone who came with an idea and

Leco de Souza

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Choose the right subscription for you  PRINT EDITION  DIGITAL EDITION  PREMIUM PACKAGE The Best Music from Around the World

2 FREE CDs The Best Music from Around the World

117 MAY 2016 BOMBINO

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YORKSHIRE FESTIVAL 12 INSPIRATIONAL TUNES

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BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO RUSTAVI CHOIR

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REEM KELANI

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09. Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band ‘You Know Me’ 03:45

From the forthcoming album The Big Machine (to be released November

IRISH MUSIC IN LONDON

WORLD 10. Mbongwana Star

07. Rokia Traoré ‘Obikè’ 04:30

11. The Nile Project ‘Tenseo’ 12:14

Georgia, Okinawa, Palestine, La Réunion, Brittany and more

04. Mr McFall’s Chamber ‘Yo Soy María’ 03:23

08. Hauschka ‘Hashima Island’ 04:14

YF2016. Executive Producer Paul Geoghegan. Selected and sequenced by Matt Burman with Jo Nockells, Tony Ereira and whiskas. The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music. Distributed exclusively with the May 2016 issue of Songlines magazine (#117) www.songlines.co.uk

“Sometimes it will break your heart”

ISSUE 117

(featuring Konono No 1) ‘Malukayi’ 06:05

SONGLINES S ONGLINES MUSIC AWARDS

@YORKSHIREFEST

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DEREK GRIPPER

Images clockwise from top: A Hawk and A Hacksaw. Rokia Traoré © Mathieu Zazzo. Eliza Carthy © Elodie Kowalski. The Nile Project © The Nile Project / Habi Girgis.

MOHAMMED ASSAF

Featuring Konono No 1 & Batida, Kris Drever, Lakou Mizik, Breabach, Planxty, La Yegros, Denez Prigent, Full Attack Band and more...

Palestine’s Arab Idol £5.95 ISSUE 117 MAY 2016 www.songlines.co.uk www.facebook.com/songlines

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STWCD93 This compilation & © 2016 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd info@songlines.co.uk, www.songlines.co.uk Executive producer Paul Geoghegan. Compiled and sequenced by Jo Frost & Alexandra Petropoulos. Design by Calvin McKenzie. Mastering by Good Imprint. CD pressing by Software Logistics Ltd. The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music.

05 Michael Messer’s Mitra ‘Bhupali Blues’ (5:36)

04 La Yegros featuring Gustavo Santaolalla ‘Chicha Roja’ (3:09)

10 Full Attack Band ‘Nadir’ (4:48)

09 Lakou Mizik ‘Peze Kafe’ (4:17)

03 Breabach ‘Muriwai’ (6:00)

02 Snowboy & The Latin Section ‘Olé Mambo’ (5:16) SLTOTWCD-117-sleeve.indd 1

01 Konono No 1 & Batida ‘Nlele Kalusimbiko’ (edit, 4:19)

08 Group Ekanzam ‘Le Souvenir’ (4:03)

07 Veretski Pass with Joel Rubin ‘Gedankn’ (2:31)

06 Kris Drever ‘If Wishes Were Horses’ (3:59)

TOP OF THE WORLD SELECTION

15 Hjálmar ‘Hljóðlega af Stað’ (5:50)

14 The Goadeg Sisters ‘Konskried Sant Nikolaz’ (2:48)

12 Anne Auffret & Yann-Fañch Kemener ‘Diougan Gwenc’hlan’ (4:43)

“Songlines has been my Bible for world music, it's always so attentive, so respectful and so truthful.” Mariza

REVIEWS

11 Denez Prigent ‘An Tri Seblant’ (10:31) YANN TIERSEN’S PLAYLIST

10 tracks from this issue’s best new albums + 5 bonus tracks exclusively with the May 2016 issue of Songlines

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BEST MUSIC FROM AROUND THE WORLD FREE COMPILATION CD

IN-DEPTH FEATURES

LATEST REVIEWS

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Never miss our exclusive covermount CD featuring a track from the ten Top of the World albums reviewed in the issue, plus a guest playlist*

Enjoy major artist interviews; beginner’s guides; and dispatches from every corner of the globe, written by the leading international music critics

Every edition is packed full of the latest album, DVD, book and world cinema reviews to keep you updated with the very best world and folk music

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Visit www.songlines.co.uk/subs or call 0800 137 201 (UK) +44 (0)1722 716997 (OVERSEAS) Pictured: Mariza © Carlos Ramos. Full annual retail price for print only (10 issues) is £59.50; One-year subscription £49.50 UK, £68.20 EU, £71.80 ROW. Postage and packaging is included. *The digital edition doesn’t include the Top of the World CD but the tablet edition includes streamed excerpts from each track (available from #89).

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Africa 46 Americas 50 Europe 54 Asia 60 Middle East 61

Fusion 62 Books 67 World Cinema 68 Live Reviews 72

Reviews

We only review full-length world music albums (not singles or EPs) with UK distribution. Please send a copy marked ‘FOR REVIEW’ to the address on p3

Brazilian rapper Emicida releases an album of thoughtful hip-hop (p50)

José de Holanda

WIN ‘While it wouldn’t win any awards for subtle production or general tastefulness, it makes up for it in sheer bloody-minded energy, mixed with an off-kilter mentality’ Future Sound of Ukraine: Borsch Division review, p59

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We have a copy of Michael Denning’s book Noise Uprising to give away. Read the review on p67 or see p19 for our competition rules and deadline

ISSUE 119

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01/06/2016 15:48

Europe REVIEWS Claudia Aurora Mulher do Norte

everything is possible,’ they declare in their ship’s logbook, sorry, liner notes. The eight skilful musicians allow soulful local singer Enza Pagliara to embark, alongside international guests such as Lebanese percussionist Rony Barrak, Turkish saz player Deniz Koseoglu and Armenian violinist Nure Dlovani. The opening Balkan-tinged song ‘Me Perdu’ and the Anatoliandriven ‘Turkayak’ draw you in before the album wheels off into the world-jazz-funk of ‘La Capu’ or the boundary-crossing ‘Pizzica-Balkan’. The crew move from the upbeat title-track to the Turkish traditional ‘Bint el Shalabiya’, while the final, multi-layered ‘Tre Balli in Maschera’ finds the group sharing a common cultural tradition in the middle of the Mediterranean. All aboard.

★★★★★

Red Orange Recordings (49 mins)

Heartfelt tribute from one fadista to another There is hardly a greater challenge to any fadista than addressing the immaculate and unbeatable Amália Rodrigues’ repertoire. Amália cannot be matched at her own game and it’s inevitable that everyone will fall short in comparison; there is also no better way to disclose a singer’s weak spots. Claudia Aurora’s latest release Mulher do Norte is no exception to this rule. Even if Aurora keeps a safe distance from the heavier emotional fados that Rodrigues sang with an astounding weight, her attempts to inject something new into ‘Filha das Ervas’ and especially ‘Havemos de Ir a Viana’ don’t mask the feeling that these shoes are too big for her feet. And it’s truly a pity. Because the song ‘Filha das Ervas’ follows a curious path wherein Aurora takes advantage of a colourful instrumentation – with an almost chamber-like approach – to close in on a classical French chanson and blur her fado into something else, nuanced by the great Edith Piaf. What Mulher do Norte actually seems to bring home is that Claudia Aurora benefits significantly from keeping fado at arm’s length. The less of it she puts into her music, the more successful she sounds in her singing, as if she’s finally allowed to search for her own nature and not someone else’s. GONÇALO FROTA

TRACK TO TRY Mãos de Luar

BandAdriatica Babilonia Felmay (56 mins)

★★★★★

A salty survey of panMediterranean sounds An impetuous Salento-based outfit, sailing along the Adriatic and south and east Mediterranean musical channels, BandAdriatica is led by the superb diatonic accordionist and singer Claudio Prima. Babilonia is their fourth release and it’s a great integration of Balkan and Italian brass-band styles, local traditional music, Middle Eastern tempos and new songs from their home sung in the local dialect. ‘While travelling,

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119

CIRO DE ROSA

TRACK TO TRY La Capu

La Banda Morisca Algarabya Fol Música (48 mins)

★★★★★

More is Moorish for this quintet and collaborators

JULIAN MAY

The obvious point of reference for La Banda Morisca (The Moorish Band) is the now-defunct Radio Tarifa, with whom they share some collaborators. But whereas the latter drank deeply from their well of influences, especially the Arabic and Spanish folk styles of Al Andalus, Algarabya sips from many sources and offers a decidedly contemporary perspective on them. The range of strings and winds played by the five band members and their equal number of collaborators includes oud, violin, gimbri, ney and sax. With this they create an attractive, varied soundscape, while the backline of electric bass and drum-kit anchors it firmly to European pop/rock. There is an atavistic poetry in the lyrics, as if they were ancient rhymes, but sometimes the melodies lose focus and the voice of José Mari Cala is not always strong enough. However, the songs are vibrant and rhythmically driven with excellent playing and production. The overall effect is a non-specific Moorish sound with a distant echo of prog-rock. It’s not for purists; rather, it is an adventurous, contemporary take on an underexplored musical legacy.

TRACK TO TRY Fine Sally

JO SETTERS

TOP

Bellowhead Live: The Farewell Tour

OF THE WORLD

TRACK 10

Navigator Records (2 CDs, 124 mins; DVD 125 mins)

★★★★★

Britain’s best loved big band bids us adieu Bellowhead made some great studio albums but their concerts are extraordinary. There was the horn section, kicking like a chorus line (including Brendon Kelly on sax pictured above); Jon Boden and Paul Sartin’s morris jigging; Sam Sweeney leaping on risers like Bruce Springsteen while wielding his fiddle; and Jon Spiers looking on like an indulgent primary school teacher at the creative mayhem surrounding him. But this big band never let the audience forget that each of the 11 members was a brilliant instrumentalist, nor that they had an enormous range – from wild free jazz to strict liturgical choral traditions – to draw on. Much of their repertoire is English folk song, but their treatment of it owes as much to Kurt Weill (and maybe even Kurt Cobain) than Cecil Sharp. Jon Boden sings like the Norfolk folk singer Peter Bellamy, but also like chansonnier Jacques Brel. Indeed, when Bellowhead’s farewell tour caravan pulled into the London Palladium, the show opened with Brel’s ‘Amsterdam’. What was striking, as the concert progressed, was that it sounded no less passionate and deeply felt than the shanty ‘Roll Alabama’, ‘Fine Sally’ or the eerie ballad ‘The Wife of Usher’s Well’. Those with an appreciation of English folk love Bellowhead for making this music urgent and anthemic – making it live.

TRACK TO TRY Zyriab y la Gacela

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Europe REVIEWS Luke Daniels Revolve and Rotate Gael Productions Ltd (51 mins)

★★★★★

New songs from Victorian music-box boffin Luke Daniels’ last album What’s Here, What’s Gone found him evolving from a well-respected button accordion virtuoso to a more-than-respectable contemporary singer-songwriter. Lest he might conceivably be accused of resting on his laurels after producing such a striking album, he’s apparently spent the last year or so finding and painstakingly restoring a rare 19th-century music box called a

polyphon, then reverse engineering the Victorian technology in order to write the first full piece for the instrument in well over a century. The instrument makes an interesting musical contribution to tracks here, such as the original ‘Fifteen Hours in a Supermarket’ and the traditional ‘Canadee I O’, based on the Nic Jones arrangement. For my money, though, the real backbone of the album consists of Daniels’ increasingly muscular own songs, where he’s more conventionally backed by the likes of James Fagan. More than a few, notably ‘If This Town That We Love’ or ‘Three Servants’, already sound like future classics. KEVIN BOURKE

TRACK TO TRY Fifteen Hours in a Supermarket

Gnoss Gnoss

Gnoss Music (54 mins)

★★★★★

Orkney islands lads out to convert the a-gnoss-tic Gnoss are young Orcadians Graham Rorie (fiddle and mandolin) and Aidan Moodie (guitar and vocals), and this is a confident debut. It’s a strong mix of originals with some confident nods to a few traditional classics. The boys managed to enlist the talents of Gregor Kincaid on bodhrán and Connor Sinclair on whistle. Opening track ‘Crantit Park’ is a playful tune by Moodie that swiftly

merges into a jaunty version of ‘Michael Coleman’s Jig’. Old favourite ‘Black is the Colour’ lacks something of the passion of previous versions, with an almost swing vibe to its delivery, while ‘The Den’ is a set of fetching tunes by the duo. ‘Bonnie Glenshee’ is a tender cover, delivered with some sweet vocals by Moodie. Final tracks, ‘Waterbound’ and ‘The Curse of the Deutans’, start off with a nice bit of Caledonian bluegrass before concluding with a fiery set of tunes by the boys themselves. Gnoss is a fine selection of tunes and songs by an exciting young duo – a promising and engaging debut. These boys are ones to watch. BILLY ROUGH

TRACK TO TRY Michael Coleman’s Jig

Arne Reinhardt

TOP

Fanfare Ciocărlia Onwards to Mars!

OF THE WORLD TRACK 1

Asphalt Tango (48 mins)

★★★★★

The Balkan brass ensemble are back with a blast To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Fanfare Ciocărlia’s launch, Onwards to Mars! serves up 14 new recordings. There are a couple of feel-good standards here that will entertain crowds (‘Mista Lobaloba’ and a pretty straight take on Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ ‘I Put a Spell on You’) but it’s the new originals that demand attention here. These include Balkan brass standards the band have known over the years and a selection of original numbers written for the band by British musician Kobi Israelite. Israelite has obviously listened closely to Fanfare Ciocărla as his seven compositions fit seamlessly into the band’s repertoire and sound like they

could have existed in the Balkans since time out of mind: ‘The Patron’s Funeral’ paying homage to the past without slavishly copying it. Want something new? Well, Latin American touring has turned FC into cumbia aficionados – ‘Mista Lobaloba’ and ‘Fiesta de Negritos’ are both good examples that are certain to liven up many a Balkan party. Twenty years on and with Boban, Taraf and Kočani all having lost their musical mojo, Fanfare Ciocărlia manage to sound as fresh as ever. This Balkan party will surely reach Mars soon. GARTH CARTWRIGHT

TRACK TO TRY Fiesta de Negritos

GET THIS ALBUM FREE Readers can get Onwards to Mars! when subscribing or renewing with Direct Debit. See CD flyer for details

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ISSUE 119

› SONGLINES

01/06/2016 15:19

JUNE-JULY 2016

Gig Guide

Songlines picks... ZIK’R (London, June 14-18) Karen Ruimy (pictured) follows the mystical path of flamenco from India to Spain. The Nile Project (North & London, June 18 & 19) A celebration of the majestic river by a collective from various countries that the Nile flows through. Rebetiko Carnival (various venues around the UK until July 2) Discover the joys of this Greek musical style (rebetikocarnival.co.uk). Our Latin Thing (London, July 16) A Fania All-Stars inspired evening featuring Roberto Pla, Omar Puente, Ska Cubano, Alex Wilson and more. Folk by the Oak (South, July 24) Folk’s finest congregate for a day at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.

LONDON 11 JUN Tropicalista Thames Boat Party The Dutch Master movimientos.org.uk; Laura Mitchell, Eralys Fernandez & Ahmed Dickinson Rosslyn Hill Chapel eventbrite.co.uk; Femi Kuti RFH 0844 875 0073; KOG & the Zongo Brigade The Clore Ballroom at RFH FREE 0844 875 0073; Lúčnica: The Slovak National Folklore Ballet Barbican 020 7638 8891; 13 JUN Amaraterra Rich Mix FREE 020 7613 7498; 13, 14, 17 &

18 JUN The SANS Sessions Cecil Sharp House 020 7485 2206; 13-14 JUN Once in Fado Village Underground onceinfado.com; 14-18 JUN ZIK’R: The Mystical Path of Flamenco from India to Seville The Peacock 020 7863 8222; 15 JUN SANS Sands Films tunedin. london; 16 JUN Karama Zigfrid von Underbelly 07946 706837; Carmen Souza Kings Place 020 7520 1490; 17 JUN Nepal Music Festival Coronet coronettheatre.co.uk; Roopa Panesar & Gurdain Rayatt Central Bar at RFH FREE 0844 875 0073; Shubhendra Rao & Saskia Rao-de Haas The Bhavan 020 7381 3086; Pat Thomas The Forge 020

7383 7808; 17-18 JUN Joe Bataan Ronnie Scott’s 020 7439 0747; 18 JUN African Drumming for Kids RAH royalalberthall.com; Tanya Tagaq The Forge 020 7383 7808; London Bulgarian Choir with Slavonic Tractor St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe tunedin.london; Afriquoi + Brand New Wayo Jazz Cafe 020 7485 6834; Paulina Tamayo Coronet 07897 554669; 19 JUN The Nile Project Islington Assembly Hall 020 7638 8891; [charity concert] The Kamkars & Docklands Sinfonia Barbican 020 7638 8891; 20 JUN Niran Obasa Trio Vortex 020 7254 4097; 20 JUN-24 JUL SOAS

World Music Summer School soas.ac.uk/music/summermusicschool; 21 JUN Refugee Day Celebration Islington Assembly Hall FREE islingtonrefugeeforum.org; 22 JUN Abel Quartet & the Korean National Gugak Centre Kings Place; 23 JUN Bixiga 70 Scala 0844 477 1000; DakhaBrakha Rich Mix 020 7613 7498; She’Koyokh + Monsieur Doumani The Forge 020 7383 7808; 24 JUN Carlos Vives Brixton Academy 0844 477 2000; The Carrivick Sisters Central Bar at RFH FREE 0844 875 0073; Bukky Leo’s Black Egypt Portico Gallery 020 8761 7612; Nomad Collective Pizza Express

www.songlines.co.uk/gigs All information correct at time of going to press. Email listings for print and online consideration to listings@songlines.co.uk W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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01/06/2016 15:49

ESSENTIAL

CALYPSO ALBUMS

Calypso has its roots in canboulay music brought to the Caribbean by African slaves, but the style is constantly being revitalised and reinterpreted. Charles de Ledesma traces its history and chooses his top ten albums

01 Arrow Best of Arrow (Musicrama, 1999)

Montserrat’s best export, Arrow, reached international stardom with ‘Hot Hot Hot’ (1982), the biggest selling soca chant of all time, but he was more than a one-hit wonder. This album contains social commentary in ‘Bills’ and ‘More Fete’, honouring the culture of the carnival tent system. Arrow died of cancer aged 60 in 2010.

02 Black Stalin Roots Rock Soca (Rounder, 1991)

Trinidad’s answer to Jamaican heavyweights like Big Youth and U-Roy, the dreadlocked Rastafari sings of injustice and other social/cultural themes, typically over old-school arrangements including brass and percussion. This collection includes classics ‘Caribbean Unity’, ‘Black Man Music’ and ‘Burn Dem’, the last integrating calypso/soca with Latin elements.

03 Kobo Town Jumbie in the Jukebox (Cumbancha, 2013)

Anyone who feels pure calypso has slid in recent years needs to head for Belize where producer Ivan Duran is busy concocting a fresh tropical, calypso sound. The brainchild of singer and multi-instrumentalist Drew Gonsalves, Kobo Town offer a lyrically extraordinary outing here, covering subjects such as a reexamination of Trinidad’s dramatic history on ‘The Trial of Henry Marshall’ and caustic social commentary about the tourist experience on ‘Postcard Poverty’. Reviewed in #92.

04 Mighty Sparrow Doctor Bird (VP Records, 2011)

This double-disc Sparrow retrospective perfectly 98 S O N G L I N E S

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demonstrates the calypso king’s extemporising skills over fine horn work and African percussion. It includes Caribbean bedrocks such as ‘Mr Walker’ – he’s come ‘to meet your daughter’ – ‘Jean and Dinah’, which shot him to fame in 1956, and ‘Obeah Wedding’, with its glorious horn medley, rhythms and commanding vocal. Reviewed in #79.

05 David Rudder & Charlie’s Roots Haiti (WEA Corp, 1990)

While ‘Bahia Girl’ is the heartthrob singer Rudder’s most ravishing song, just about all his other classics are on Haiti. From the steel pan master-study ‘The Hammer’ to the biting social criticism of ‘Panama’ and on to the pan-island joy of ‘Rally Round the West Indies’, Rudder juxtaposes the bacchanalian heart of modern calypso with traditional, incisive, cultural observation.

06 Various Artists Calypso Craze: 1956-57 and Beyond

this three double-CD project of UK-based kaiso singers and bands. The first CD is dominated by cuts by Beginner and Kitchener while the later CDs cover the interplay with jazz and swing.

08 Various Artists Panama! 2 (Soundway, 2009)

Soundway’s Miles Cleret has done a great service in unearthing vintage 45s for the Panama! threerelease series. The second disc was particularly outstanding as a showcase of the country’s music. A Top of the World in #61.

09 Various Artists The Rough Guide to Calypso Gold (World Music Network, 2015)

This latest Rough Guide offering on music from Trinidad and Tobago is a true blue collection of classics from 1920-50s including Calypso Rose’s ‘Rum & Coca-Cola’, Lord Pretender’s ‘Human Race’ and Relator’s ‘Nora’ – all endlessly hummable, ageless, often hilarious Caribbean pop. Reviewed in #55.

(Bear Family, 2014)

This seven-CD selection offer an overview of traditional calypso’s golden era when the style took the US by storm. It covers familiar ground, such as Caresser’s ‘Edward the VIII’ and King Radio’s ‘Matilda’, but little gems surface, such as jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald’s version of ‘Stone Cold Dead in the Market’ and Harry Belafonte’s delicately delivered ‘Kalenda Rock’, with its verse steeped in 19th-century African folk memory. Reviewed in #105.

07 Various Artists London is the Place for Me, Vols 1-6 (Honest Jon’s, 2013)

When master calypsonian Lord Kitchener arrived in England in 1948 on the Empire Windrush he was singing ‘London is the Place for Me’. The classic song rightly opens

10 Various Artists Virgin Islands: Quelbe & Calypso 1956-60 (Frémeaux & Associés, 2013)

The Virgin Islands’ quelbe – meaning ‘scratch’ – shows how calypso exists in quite pure form on other Caribbean islands. There is an infectious live feel to artists like The Mighty Zebra, Lloyd Prince Thomas and Bill Fleming. Listen out for The Fabulous McClevertys’ take on ‘Rookombay’, the story of an orisha ritual where the African deity Shango is invoked. Reviewed in #96.

+ MORE Read our Beginner’s Guide to the +

calypso queen, Calypso Rose, on p78 LET US KNOW Have any other suggestions? Write and let us know letters@songlines.co.uk

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