Songlines Magazine (December 2016, #123)

+ FREE CD

The Best Music from Around the World

The Best Music from Around the World

123 DECEMBER 2016 ROBERTO FONSECA

Roberto Fonseca Cuba’s musical history

79

REVIEWS

MAMADOU DIABATE & THE BALAFON

heard on the ivories

VINCENT SEGAL

10/10/2016 11:52

KEFAYA DUTCH FLAMENCO BIENNALE

15

+

LADY MAISERY

Free tracks

THE BEST NEW RELEASES

English folk songs linked by the cycle of life

KATIE MELUA’S PLAYLIST MUSIC FROM…

DHAFER YOUSSEF

+

DAOIRI FARRELL

TOP Burkina Faso, Ireland, OF THE Cuba, WORLD Colombia, Norway and more

ISSUE 123

KATIE MELUA’S PLAYLIST

Featuring Mohammed Rafi, Diabel Cissokho, Alsarah & The Nubatones, Big Mama Thornton, Lady Maisery, Acid Arab, Rustavi Choir and more...

001_Cover_SL123.indd 1

Tunisian oud virtuoso takes flight and soars

£5.95 ISSUE 123 DECEMBER 2016 www.songlines.co.uk www.facebook.com/songlines 14/10/2016 11:13

STWCD99 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 & 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.

WELCOME

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 Arien Chang Castan Contributing Editors Jane Cornwell, Mark Ellingham & Nigel Williamson Sub editor Emma Baker Interns Liam Izod & Rachel Cunniffe Subscriptions Director Sally Boettcher Editorial Director Martin Cullingford Publishing Director Paul Geoghegan CEO Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen SUBSCRIPTIONS

UK: 0800 137 201 Overseas: +44 (0)1722 716997 subscriptions@markallengroup.com ADVERTISING

The WOMEX effect

A

common affliction among world music professionals at this time of year is PWB (Post-WOMEX Blues). It occurs following five days at the annual world music expo and symptoms can include loss of voice, from too much talking; stiff shoulders, due to carrying too many CDs; sleep deprivation, as a result of too many latenight showcases and early-morning meetings, and a delayed hangover, following excessive consumption of various national beverages (whisky on the Scottish stand, rum on the Cuban stand and some lovely local Albariño, of course). Positive manifestations of PWB are a sense of galvanisation that comes about following this annual gathering of like-minded people who believe that music is a universal common language and has the power to bring about change. At this year’s WOMEX in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, there were numerous instances that underlined this – the #PAZ posters in evidence at Puerto Candelaria’s showcase in support of Colombia’s peace movement (see p81). Another occasion was at the conference entitled ‘Brexit and Beyond’ where the panel discussed the importance of bringing artists together, taking a stance against the sentiments of ‘Little England’ and lobbying politicians to demand freedom of movement for artists – crucial, given these dark times of division and xenophobia.

After all the negative political verbiage, post-Brexit and around the US elections, it felt refreshing to discuss ways of collaborating and breaking down barriers. As I stood dancing among some of the 2,000plus delegates from 95 countries to the euphoric sounds of São Paulo’s Bixiga 70, the belief that music transcends borders had never felt stronger, and the spirit of WOMEX perfectly encapsulates this.

“the belief that music transcends borders had never felt stronger”

Jo Frost, editor

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE INCLUDE

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www.markallengroup.com

Songlines is published by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Rd, London, SE24 0PB, UK +44 (0)20 7738 5454 info@songlines.co.uk www.songlines.co.uk © MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, 2016. All rights reserved.

No part of the Songlines may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Publishing Director.

The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor or Songlines Advertisements in the journal do not imply endorsement of the products or services advertised.

ISSN 1464-8113.

Printed by: Pensord Press Ltd, Blackwood, NP12 2A Record trade distribution WWMD Ltd 0121 788 3112 Newstrade distribution COMAG 01895 433600

Kim Burton Kim has been a Balkan accordionist, salsa pianist, international court translator and is currently researching underground roots music of north-east Bosnia. She picks out her favourite polyphonic albums on p98.

Liam Izod Liam works with Kaashi Arts and online educators MusicGurus. He writes about contemporary music for publications like the Vinyl Factory and Londonist. Read about his recent trip to Norway on p75.

Miriam Abdulla Miriam is a London-based gig photographer and writer on jazz, roots and electronic music. This issue she contributes a review and photo of the Mosaiques Festival at Rich Mix in London (p71).

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

www.songlines.co.uk ISSUE 123

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CONTENTS

19 Sophie Solomon

34

15

UPFRONT

FEATURES

REVIEWS

06 09 14

22

46 48 52 59 60 67 68 70

16 17 19 20 21

Top of the World CD What’s New Introducing...

Daoirí Farrell & Kefaya Simon Says...

Letters Spotlight: Sophie Solomon Songlines Music Travel Notes from the Road

30 34

36 38

Roberto Fonseca

The Cuban pianist celebrates his country’s rich musical history

Lady Maisery

The English folk trio sing about the cycle of life

Instruments Reimagined

Instruments designed as everyday objects

Dhafer Youssef

The Tunisian oud player inspired by Syria

Tools of the Trade

The history of the West African balafon

“A Hungarian, they say, is someone who gets into a revolving door behind you, but comes out in front”

Simon Broughton visits the Budapest Ritmo Festival, p16 W W W . S O N G L I N E S . C O. U K

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Africa Americas Europe Asia Fusion Books World Cinema Live Reviews

Kefaya

REGULARS 72 75 76 78 81 83 85 87 94 97 98

My World: Katie Melua Postcard from Norway Beginner’s Guide: The Ukrainians Festival Pass: Dutch Flamenco Biennale Dispatch from Colombia Quickfire My Instrument: Vincent Segal Gig Guide Overseas Festivals Soapbox Essential Ten: Polyphonic Choral Albums

83 Tanya Tagaq ISSUE 123

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TOP OF THE WORLD

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01 Roberto Fonseca ‘Afro Mambo’ 02 Acid Arab feat Sofiane Saidi ‘La Hafla’ 03 Thrace ‘Khamse’ 04 Alsarah & The Nubatones ‘Ya Watan’ 05 Lady Maisery ‘Quiet Joys of Brotherhood’ 06 Diabel Cissokho ‘Dimbaya’ 07 Cillian Vallely ‘The Leitrim Thrush’ 08 Kaia Kater ‘Little Pink’ 09 Mei Han and Red Chamber ‘Sunny Spring and White Snow’ 10 The Furrow Collective ‘Dear Companion’

Free tracks

THE BEST NEW RELEASES

+

KATIE MELUA’S PLAYLIST

TOP

OF THE WORLD

TOP

OF THE WORLD

CD ISSUE 123 123 PLUS 5 tracks chosen by Katie Melua

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

11 Hamlet Gonashvili ‘Chela’ 12 Mohammed Rafi ‘Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai’ 13 Rustavi Choir ‘Mival Guriashi’ 14 Gori Women’s Choir ‘Tchuti Sevdiani Simtchera: V. Lento’ 15 Big Mama Thornton ‘Ball N’ Chain’

Featuring Mohammed Rafi, Diabel Cissokho, Alsarah & The Nubatones, Big Mama Thornton, Lady Maisery, Acid Arab, Rustavi Choir and more...

Exclusively with the December 2016 issue of Songlines. STWCD99.

This compilation & © 2016 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd

STWCD99 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.

SLTOTWCD-123-onbody.indd 1

10/10/2016 11:51

Cycle (RootBeat Records) & © 2016 RootBeat Records. Courtesy of RootBeat Records

05 Lady Maisery ‘Quiet Joys of Brotherhood’ (4:48)

Manara (Wonderwheel Recordings) & © 2016 Wonderwheel Recordings. Courtesy of Wonderwheel Recordings

04 Alsarah & The Nubatones ‘Ya Watan’ (2:55)

Wild Hog (Hudson Records) & © 2016 Hudson Records Ltd. Courtesy of Hudson Records

10 The Furrow Collective ‘Dear Companion’ (3:09)

Classical & Contemporary Chinese Music (ARC Music) & © 2016 ARC Music. Courtesy of ARC Music

Ball N’ Chain (Arhoolie) & © 1989 Arhoolie Productions Inc. Courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

15 Big Mama Thornton ‘Ball N’ Chain’ (4:36)

Archaica (Sony Classical) & © 1995 Sony Classical GmbH. Courtesy of the Gori Women’s Choir

14 Gori Women’s Choir ‘Tchuti Sevdiani Simtchera: V. Lento’ (7:25)

TOP OF THE WORLD PLAYLIST TRACKS The Raven’s Rock (Copperplate) & © 2016 Cillian Vallely. Courtesy of Copperplate

07 Cillian Vallely ‘The Leitrim Thrush’ (4:19)

13 Rustavi Choir ‘Mival Guriashvi’ (2:17)

01 Roberto Fonseca ‘Afro Mambo’ (3:47)

TOP OF THE WORLD SELECTION

Tambacounda Express (Kafou Music) & © 2016 Diabel Cissokho. Courtesy of Kafou Music

Loafer OST (Saregama) & © 1972 Saregama. Courtesy of Saregama

12 Mohammed Rafi ‘Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai’ (6:26)

06 Diabel Cissokho ‘Dimbaya’ (4:09)

Hamlet ( Jaro) & © 1996 Jaro Medien GmbH. Courtesy of Jaro

11 Hamlet Gonashvili ‘Chela’ (2:59) KATIE MELUA’S PLAYLIST

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

From Tambacounda Express on Kafou Music

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ABUC (Impulse!) & © 2016 Montuno Producciones y Eventos SL, under exclusive licence to Impulse!. Courtesy of Montuno/Universal Music

123

08 Kaia Kater ‘Little Pink’ (4:06)

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Musique de France (Crammed Discs) & © 2016 Crammed Discs. Courtesy of Crammed Discs

06 S O N G L I N E S

02 Acid Arab feat Sofiane Saidi ‘La Hafla’ (4:10)

Georgian Voices (Nonesuch) & © 1989 Elektra Nonesuch. Courtesy of Nonesuch

10

06 Diabel Cissokho ‘Dimbaya’

This track is a raucous stop in a dizzying

Within this diverse collection of West

journey back and forth through

African styles, the funk-fuelled electric

Fonseca’s Afro-Cuban musical heritage.

guitar and energetic percussive rhythms

An ambitious and convincing offering

that drive ‘Dimbaya’ provide an almost

from the young maestro. See p48

hypnotic effect. See p47

02 Acid Arab feat Sofiane Saidi ‘La Hafla’

07 Cillian Vallely

‘The Leitrim Thrush’ From The Raven’s Rock on Copperplate

From Musique de France on Crammed Discs

This accomplished solo debut album

A brilliant debut from the Parisian

finds the uilleann piper and whistle

collective that provides a thrilling

player from Lúnasa in fine form,

exploration of the points where sonic

featuring elegant and exciting displays of

traditions meet. See p60

virtuosity throughout. See p56

03 Thrace ‘Khamse’

08 Kaia Kater

A collection of traditional and composed

Kater’s tough, drawling voice and

pieces from this multicultural quartet,

magnificent banjo work seamlessly

each track offering either lyrical beauty or

together as centre pieces of this album,

virtuosic performance, both of which can

and mark her as a contemporary, organic

be heard on ‘Khamse’. See p65

part of an ancient tradition. See p49

04 Alsarah & The Nubatones ‘Ya Watan’

09 Mei Han and Red Chamber

A magical display of interweaving vocal

From Classical & Contemporary Chinese Music on ARC Music

melodies and delicate accompaniment

Original, historical and folk pieces feature

from Sudanese-American singer Alsarah

on this masterful album from the Chinese

and her Nubatones. See p46

guzheng player Mei Han. See p59

05 Lady Maisery ‘Quiet Joys of Brotherhood’

10 The Furrow Collective

From Sunday Morning Sessions on Harmonia Mundi

From Manara on Wonderwheel Recordings

05

Nine Pin (Kaia Kater) & © 2016 Kaia Kater. Courtesy of Kaia Kater

09

04

09 Mei Han and Red Chamber ‘Sunny Spring and White Snow’ (2:58)

08

03

From ABUC on Impulse!

03 Thrace ‘Khamse’ (3:28)

07

02

01 Roberto Fonseca ‘Afro Mambo’

Sunday Morning Sessions (Harmonia Mundi) & © 2016 Full Rhizome under exclusive licence to Harmonia Mundi.

Courtesy of Harmonia Mundi

06

01

‘Little Pink’ From Nine Pin on Mavens Music

‘Sunny Spring and White Snow’

‘Dear Companion’ From Wild Hog on Hudson Records

From Cycle on RootBeat Records

Lucy Farrell’s stunning vocals lead this

A beautiful return to the lilting style of

Appalachian song from Jean Ritchie,

their first album. Close harmonies and

supported by haunting harmonies and

Rheingans’ hybrid bansitar instrument

beautifully understated guitar. An album

feature in this track. See p54

of innovation and distinction. See p52

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26/10/2016 12:52

+ KATIE MELUA’S PLAYLIST 11

11 Hamlet Gonashvili ‘Chela’ From Hamlet on Jaro Hamlet Gonashvili – a singer with the Rustavi Choir – was often called ‘the voice of Georgia’ and is one of the country’s icons. This album includes many of his favourite songs.

12

12 Mohammed Rafi ‘Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai’ From Loafer OST on Saregama

This song is from the 1973 Bollywood crime thriller Loafer, by playback singer Mohammed Rafi. “He sounds like someone I want to hang out with.”

13 Rustavi Choir ‘Mival Guriashvi’ From Georgian Voices on Nonesuch

“Because Georgian polyphonic singing is on the UNESCO world heritage list, it’s a serious job,” Katie Melua says of her home country’s unique singing tradition. “The Rustavi choir are the most respected.”

14

14 Gori Women’s Choir ‘Tchuti Sevdiani Simtchera: V. Lento’

Pip

13

“I am fascinated by vocals, but I’d never heard singing like [The Gori Women’s Choir] – with their potency and power... I just love the fact that there is this high art of choral singing from my own country” Turn to p72 for the full interview with Katie Melua

From Archaica on Sony Classical

This track is a heartrending lament composed by Giorgi Chlaidze, “one of a

NEXT ISSUE: GEORGE MONBIOT’S PLAYLIST

group of contemporary composers who are writing for the choir.”

15 Big Mama Thornton ‘Ball N’ Chain’ From Ball N’ Chain on Arhoolie

‘Ball N’ Chain’ was a big hit for Janis Joplin in 1968, but it was American R&B

John Russell

15

The British writer and political activist chooses his favourite world music tracks to be featured on the covermount CD of the January/ February 2017 issue (#124).

singer Big Mama Thornton who recorded the song first around 1965.

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INTRODUCING...

Daoirí Farrell

The Dublin-born traditional singer is making his mark with the release of his new album. He talks to Tim Cumming about finding his vocation

E

ven now, Daoirí Farrell can’t quite believe the turn of events that has taken him from oil platform electrician to Champion Singer at the All-Ireland Fleadh, lauded by the likes of Christy Moore and Paddy Keenan. He came late to playing as opposed to listening to music – he’d learned the songs of Christy Moore, Planxty and Bothy Band via his father’s in-car stash of tapes, played en route to a day’s fishing or hill walking. Music, however, took a back seat after he took up an electrician’s apprenticeship – “working in factories and then on sites, these massive oil platforms.” By 2007, with work scarce, Farrell returned to college to study music. Two years later, he released his debut, The First Turn, and concluded his studies with a BA in Applied Music at Dundalk, and an MA in Music Performance at Limerick.

“I wanted to get a true understanding of it,” he says of his music, “and I got that from going to college, and from personal experience. That’s when I really wanted to be a singer.” He trained with classical as well as folk artists, including a stint as lead tenor with an orchestra. The problem was in understanding the words. “To truly sing a song, properly from the heart, I have to totally understand it,” he says. “Who sung it, why they sung it, why they wrote it. So when I close my eyes and sing them, I can see them happening in front of my eyes.”

That sense of a direct, one-on-one connection to the story and inner character of a song is Farrell’s calling card, and you’d have to travel far to hear a more visceral, affecting account of a ballad such as ‘The Unquiet Grave’, one of his new album’s standout tracks, learned directly from the father of flautist Alan Doherty. “We were at a session and he picked up a guitar and

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123

sang this song, and he had me in tears with it. I had to learn it, and I really learned it, and that’s why I sing it with such feeling.” The same goes for his fully lived-in account of another album highlight, ‘Van Diemens Land’.

“The air of it allows me to sing it out, and it just fits, it suits my body perfectly. When I close my eyes and sing that song, I can see it happening.”

He pauses. “I think I can make people stop and listen with those two songs.”

You are likely to stop and linger long over two of the finest songs from True Born Irishman by a cult hero of Irish and Traveller music, the Dublin singer Liam Weldon. With James Mahon’s

pipe drone and Farrell’s powerful and ornamented vocal, ‘The Blue Tar Road’ – about the racism and hardship suffered by Travellers – and the album’s closer, ‘My Love is a Well’, are truly gripping performances. “That’s just the way I sing,” he says of his vocal technique – and his music in general.

“Of course, I have been influenced, but I take songs and sing them and sing them and sing them and put my twist on them – and that is my own twist.”

+ ALBUM True Born Irishman will be +

reviewed in the next issue DATES See Gig Guide for tour dates

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

26/10/2016 11:19

Kefaya

Jo Frost speaks to Al MacSween and Giuliano Modarelli, the driving force behind the London collective who are on an upward trajectory

G

ood things come to those that wait. That seems to be the case for the collective known as Kefaya and their long-awaited debut.

The group’s name means ‘Enough’ in Arabic and, after months of anticipation, their album launch is the not-to-be missed gig in November.

Songlines readers got their first introduction to the band back in April when ‘Indignados’ opened the Yorkshire Festival CD (#117). Indeed, there is a Yorkshire link as the founders of the group, Italian guitarist Giuliano Modarelli and keyboard player Al MacSween, met studying jazz in Leeds.

They recorded Radio International over three years, featuring musicians from India, Palestine, Spain, Italy and the UK. The two other key players in the band are drummer Joost Hendrickx and bassist Domenico Angarano.

The album is modestly presented in a cardboard wallet and depicts a fist smashing through a globe, brandishing an antenna – underlining the concept of an international radio station with no borders. It starts with crackly radio

interference and samples of a clipped English broadcasting voice, then kicks into the pulsating, heavy bass lines of ‘Indignados’. “We decided to dedicate the track to the spirit of protest and political resistance,” the pair say, paying tribute to the “inspiring anti-austerity movement that had been developing in Spain, known as the ‘15M Movement’ or ‘Indignados’ (the Indignant).” It’s a big, bold number with yearning flamenco vocals of Chico Pere, samples of the leftwing Spanish activist and writer, Pablo Iglesias, speaking on Spanish radio and Éthiopiques-inspired horns. It’s been getting a tonne of radio play – and no wonder, it’s a killer track.

Clearly socially and politically motivated, there are big themes of immigration, freedom of movement and struggle addressed on the album.

“There’s a market for this kind of music,” asserts MacSween, “what with Bernie Sanders and Podemos [Spanish political party], all these social movements happening.”

Beyond the heavy-duty stuff, both MacSween and Modarelli

are consummate musicians who voraciously absorb styles and techniques. “We try and choose to play styles of music that we’ve actually had experience working within,” says MacSween. “We don’t really want to approach it unless we feel we have the basics,” continues Modarelli. “We try to compose around things that we have an interest in studying.”

This approach means they collaborate a lot: MacSween has recently been working with Cuban violinist Omar Puente and Modarelli has been touring with the choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. They’ve also been working with Sarathy Korwar on his album Day to Day (a Top of the World in #121).

Their live shows feature an eclectic mix of guest vocalists, including the Afghan singer Elaha Soroor, who was a contestant on Afghan Star in 2009 (Afghanistan’s equivalent of Pop Idol).

Other frequent guests include vocalist Deepa Nair Rasiya, Cormac Byrne on bodhrán and Gurdain Rayatt on tabla.

“These collaborations, they open lots of doors for us,” says Modarelli. “It’s great,” agrees MacSween, “It’s the ethos of what we like to do, keep this feeling that it’s a collective.”

Kefaya have only done a handful of choice gigs this year, but they’ve certainly made an impression, with the FT proclaiming them as: ‘One of the hottest acts on this summer’s festival circuit,’ after their Larmer Tree appearance. “We’re just dying to get out there and gig!” says MacSween, a sentiment their rapidly-expanding fan base will undoubtedly echo.

+ ALBUM Radio International was a Ayse Thornett

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+ +

Top of the World last issue DATE Kefaya launch their album at Rich Mix on November 25 VIDEO www.bit.ly/kefaya ISSUE 123

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Diana Gomez

SPOTLIGHT Sophie Solomon Tom Newell catches up with the violinist and composer who is returning to the recording scene with a new release after a decade-long break

A

s a prodigious young violinist Sophie Solomon was given a book about the last Tzars of Russia by her mother and so began a life-long fascination with the country and its faded grandeur. When her elder brother married a Russian dancer, she spent extended periods of time hanging out with them in St Petersburg, learning to speak Russian in a Bohemian world of parties and gigs. “I was getting on and off night trains on my own aged 14 – not quite what my mum thought I was up to over there!” These memories of travelling around the country in its early post-communist days are the main inspiration behind Solomon’s new album Stop the Parade, which was launched in September as part of the Jewish Music Institute’s Festival of Jewish Arts & Music.

This is her second solo album and her first after a hiatus of ten years: she has since been raising a family and directing the Jewish Music Institute at the School of Oriental and African

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Studies, as well as continuing to perform internationally. But, while the recording studio has remained unvisited, her creative zeal and sense of innovation have, if anything, expanded. She explains how the process of writing the songs became totally engrossing: “I was taking a print-making course at Central St Martins at the time and I made a print for each of the tracks. I wrote some words on the back of one of them, so, even though that tune doesn’t have lyrics, it does… to me.”

Usually starting with words first, writing the tracks on Stop the Parade has been a careful process of weaving together a wide range of influences, such as the years Solomon spent as a jungle DJ while studying at Oxford. Also very prominent on the album are the lush strings provided by her long-time producer and creative partner Marius de Vries. Solomon describes the overall sound as “cinematic.” “I hope people feel like they’re in a dramatisation of War and Peace or something lavish like that,

when they listen to the album.” Not every part of the album is as meticulous though: the instrumental number ‘Swing’, based on a traditional Hungarian tune taught to Solomon on board a boat on the Danube, is more the result of jamming with the band. She also reveals the band compete with each other to see who can play this tune the fastest.

As with many klezmer releases, there is a distinct air of melancholy and nostalgia about Stop the Parade and I ask Solomon whether she thinks this is an inevitable part of the genre. She refers me to her old band Oi Va Voi’s album Laughter Through Tears as an example of the Jewish aesthetic in music.

“When I play the violin I can’t help but be affected by the emotion of it all. There is a melancholy in klezmer but at the same time the music is also strong and resolute.”

+ ALBUM Sophie Solomon’s new album, Stop

the Parade, will be reviewed in the next issue

ISSUE 123

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Songlines Music Travel

Dedicated trips for music lovers worldwide, bringing you the excitement of real music directly where it’s made CUBA RUMBA & REVOLUTION! March 15-29 2017 Explore the rich variety of music from one of the top music destinations.

CHINA A MUSICAL JOURNEY March 26-April 7 2017 As well as exploring the music scenes in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai, we also visit the Great Wall of China.

Filipe Frazao, Fotolia/stock.adobe.com

ROMANIA AT HOME WITH THE GYPSIES May 27-June 4 2017 September 2-10 2017 Includes visits to Clejani, the home of Taraf de Haidouks, and Zece Prăjini, the home of Fanfare Ciocărlia.

CUBA: RUMBA AND REVOLUTION

MOROCCO ESSAOUIRA GNAWA FESTIVAL June 29-July 3 2017 A weekend in the Moroccan port town of Essaouira during this vibrant festival.

CHINA: A MUSICAL JOURNEY

MARCH 15-29 2017

MARCH 26-APRIL 7 2017

All Cubans are music lovers, and on this trip you can join them in appreciating the island’s many genres.

After immersion in Havana the tour transfers to Santiago to catch the Pepe Sanchez Trova Festival, which celebrates the city’s best music from salsa to son. The journey then swings west through Camaguey, Bayamo, and Matanzas, less visited but no less rich in music. With US-Cuba relations thawing, the best time to experience Cuba is now.

China is a hugely diverse and enthralling country of a billion people, and is set to become the world’s largest economy within the next decade. This trip to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai will provide insights into the ancient, contemporary and future Chinese music. From the traditional yet innovative Peking National Opera, through Mongolian folk music to the latest underground beats, we will get to meet influential record producers and local musicians.

Zhao Jian Kang/stock.adobe.com

“A superb journey through Cuban musical styles and performers. The amount of planning and the depth of experience and knowledge that Philip [the tour leader] brought was self-evident. All in all, the best tour I have ever been on.”

Jack Warshaw on the Cuba trip

ARGENTINA GET TANGOED! August 2017 We trace the history of tango in South America’s most European city.

Visit www.songlinesmusictravel.com Call +44 (0)207 501 6741 Email tours@mastertravel.co.uk

COLOMBIA WHERE THE HEART BEATS September 11-22 2017 Embark on a 11-day trip to Colombia to discover and appreciate its musical culture up close.

SENEGAL NEVER MIND THE MBALAX November 19-28 2017 Immerse yourself in the local sounds and rhythms of Senegal’s capital, Dakar.

All dates shown are ex-destination.

The Songlines Music Travel Tours are operated by Master Travel Ltd. The air holiday packages advertised are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 3800. Please see our booking conditions for more information. ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services advertised.

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Notes from the Road COLOMBIA: WHERE THE HEART BEATS Tour leader Russ Slater reports back from the recent Songlines Music Travel trip to Colombia (September 12-22 2016) I’ve long been saying it, and I will say it again: Colombia is going through a special moment.

The peace deal may have been rejected but that doesn’t stop the fact that the country is fast putting its previous violent and unsafe image behind it. These days it’s a country of warm, hospitable people, of progressive social policies and of vibrant, contagious musical rhythms.

The Songlines Music Travel trip to Colombia was a good example of this, allowing the chance to see its major cities as the locals do, on walking tours (with plenty of chance to try the local delicacies), with residents showing us how Bogotá and Medellín are changing their image in ambitious ways and seeing how Cartagena made Colombia the perfect link between Latin America and the rest of the world.

Best of all though was the music: Medellín for serving a heavy dose of salsa and hip-hop; Cartagena and Palenque for bringing the two sides of Afro-Colombian music (traditional and modern) to life, and the capital Bogotá for having a little bit of everything, including a swathe of producers and bands putting their own stamp on cumbia. The only negative thing that you could say about Colombia is that the music is so diverse and deep in history that it’s hard to know where to start looking, but then that is where this trip comes in. Colombia is a treasure trove but one that requires a map if you want to make sure you find its cultural bounty.

DEREK GRIPPER PAOLO ANGELI

derekgripper.com

paoloangeli.com

ON TOUR 2017 Thu 2 Feb \ Birmingham \ mac \ macbirmingham.co.uk Fri 3 Feb \ Bangor \ Pontio \ pontio.co.uk Sun 05 Feb \ Bury St Edmunds \ the apex \ theapex.co.uk Tue 07 Feb \ Bristol \ Colston Hall /The Lantern \ colstonhall.org Wed 08 Feb \ Sheffield \ University of Sheffield \ sheffield.ac.uk/concerts Thu 09 Feb \ Cambridge \ The Junction \ junction.co.uk Sun 12 Feb \ London \ Rich Mix \ richmix.org.uk Mon 13 Feb \ Milton Keynes \ The Stables \ stables.org Wed 15 Feb \ Gateshead \ The Sage Gateshead \ thesagegateshead.org Thu 16 Feb \ York \ NCEM \ ncem.co.uk

makingtrackslive.org.uk

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SKLAMBERG & THE SHEPHERDS ON TOUR: 22 Mar-04 Apr 2017 Klezmer royalty in transcontinental exploration of common roots

www.kapa-productions.com

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ROBERTO FONSECA

Cuban and Proud

Jane Cornwell catches up with Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca just prior to the launch of his latest album, a homage to his home country and its rich musical history

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

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oberto Fonseca stands on his rooftop balcony in Vedado, Havana and looks out across the city and the blue-green Florida Straits. “I couldn’t live anywhere other than Cuba,” says the pianist, composer and bandleader, 41, as a potted palm sways in the breeze and unmuffled engines snarl along the street six floors below.

“Musically there is so much that inspires me, from the traditional to the new, crazy, adventurous stuff.”

He sweeps a well-honed arm over the skyline and by implication, the rest of this beleaguered, creatively fecund island. “It’s all going on out there,” he continues in accented English made fluent by a rigorous tour schedule that, over the last decade-and-a-half, has taken him around the world several times. “I wanted to tell the story of Cuba’s musical history in my own way, to show people the crazy things we are doing, as well as our beautiful roots. I have a big faith,” – he flashes a grin – “that everybody is going to love this album.”

ABUC (that’s Cuba spelled backwards) is Fonseca’s eighth solo record and arguably his most ambitious.

Featuring everything from mambo, contradanza and chachachá to Afro-Cuban chants, West African instrumentation and wheeling, prog-rock style Hammond organ – not to mention hip-hop, spoken word and some sparkling electro flourishes – it’s a snapshot of Cuba’s past, present and future; an album as kaleidoscopic and multilayered as the place itself.

It’s a symbol, too, of where Fonseca is at, four years after the release of his Grammy-nominated masterwork, Yo, an Afro-centric project that also matched tradition with experimentation and marked a change in Fonseca’s compositional approach, most specifically on the track ‘7 Rayos’. A homage to the Palo Mayombe religion of the Yoruba people who moved from Africa to Cuba with the slave trade,

‘7 Rayos’ fuses Cuban patterns with classical music, West African instrumentation, electronica and rhythmic spoken-word poetry. “‘7 Rayos’ is the most important song I have ever done in my life,” Fonseca told me just after Yo dropped. “I mixed all these elements, created a bridge between African tradition and moved my music forward.”

There have been giant steps since, including a stint with Gilles Peterson’s Havana Cultura project and a long tour with Malian singing star Fatoumata Diawara, whose guest vocals on Yo (on a cover of ‘Bibisa’ by Malian griot Baba Sissoko) kick-started an acclaimed live collaboration. They went on to play venues such as London’s Barbican and the Philharmonie de Paris and festivals including Jazz in Marciac, the town in southwest France that has j’adore-d Fonseca since 2004, when he accompanied the crooner Ibrahim Ferrer, more of which in a moment.

“Working with Fatou opened my mind about the possibilities of percussion and guitar,” says Fonseca, who still treasures his copy of Salif Keita’s 1987 debut, Soro, the first African album he ever bought. “The kamalengoni has thousands of rhythms and melodies, and this influenced me when I composed new tracks like ‘Tumbao de la Unidad’ for guitar [the guitar of one of his childhood heroes, guajiro singer Eliades Ochoa] and ‘Soul Guardians’ [featuring Diawara’s backing musicians, electric guitarist Sekou Bah and kamalengoni player Drissa Sidibé], which is a funky, sort of acoustic African reggaeton.”

He set the bar high with Yo, which has sold over 60,000 copies and put him in the same league as bestselling instrumental artists such as bassist Marcus Miller and trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. Expectations over its follow-up never bothered him: “All I worry about is trying to be a better musician,” he says with

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INSTRUMENTS REIMAGINED

The Things in Instruments and the Instruments in Things Polish graphic designer Piotr Pucyło shares a few images that make connections between everyday objects and ‘exotic’ instruments

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raphic designer Piotr Pucyło creates the artwork for the Førde Festival in Norway and for his own Globaltica Festival in Gdynia, Poland. These images of reimagined musical instruments are part of a series of 24 that he created for an exhibition at the Førde Festival. He’s since released a book featuring all 24 designs, although the series is ongoing and now features over 30 images.

Pucyło describes them as “an attempt to find common features between ethnic musical instruments and everyday objects. I tried to find resemblance in shapes, usage or names.

+ ONLINE You can buy the book or view the complete set of images on Piotr Pucyło’s website, www.piotrpucylo.com

Scottish bagpipes fashioned from a heart

A football inspired by the kamancheh, the Persian spike-fiddle

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In some cases the association was quite obvious, other cases involved deeper thinking and sometimes abstract comparison.

My intention was to show the instruments’ diversity and the beauty of their forms.” Pucyło also incorporates graphics from textiles or crafts into his designs, and provides a short explanatory text about each hybrid object. It’s a fresh and original way of looking at the world’s musical instruments.

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INSTRUMENTS REIMAGINED

Smartphone inspired by an mbira (thumb piano) from Zimbabwe. Both require nimble thumbs

A radiator from the button accordion. In Poland, accordions are often colloquially known as ‘radiators’

A ladder made from a West African balafon

Screwdriver inspired by the Armenian duduk, an apricot-wood oboe

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE

The Balafon

The West African xylophone is steeped in the mythology of the Mali Empire. Simon Broughton meets balafon player Mamadou Diabaté, who is helping to keep the instrument’s 800-year history alive

W

hen we think of the music of West Africa, it’s often the sound of the kora that comes to mind.

But that sophisticated harp-like arrangement of calabash, skin and strings is a relatively recent invention. Going back to Mali’s golden age of Sunjata Keita and the Mali Empire in the 13th century, the kora was still an instrument of the future. The instruments of Sunjata’s time were drums, the ngoni (lute) and the balafon – the West African xylophone. The balafon, or similar ‘fixed key’ xylophones are found in all the Mande areas of West Africa (Mali, Guinea, the Gambia, Burkina Faso), where it is thought to have originated.

But similar instruments – with different names and tunings

– are found across West Africa. Sonically, it makes a delicate backbone to the music and adds a percussive bounce. The Senegalese national anthem, with words by poet and president Léopold Senghor, says ‘pluck your koras, hit the balafons.’

“When I started aged four, I didn’t want to learn, I wanted to play football,” says balafon player Mamadou Diabaté. “But my father said come to the school and my school was the balafon.

By the time I was eight I could play really well and I realised it was a great thing to do.” Certainly in balafon families boys are simply expected to follow the tradition.

Mamadou Diabaté was born in one of the heartlands of balafon playing in Burkina Faso. He now lives in Vienna,

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Africa REVIEWS

TOP

Alsarah & The Nubatones Manara

OFTHE WORLD TRACK 4

Wonderwheel Recordings (41 mins)

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Retro Afro-pop with powerful political messages Sudanese-American singer Alsarah and her Nubatones first showed up on the radar with their fantastic debut Silt in 2014. As self-proclaimed disciples of retro-pop from East Africa, the group actively advocate a return to musical styles of the 1960s and 70s while possessing the sheen of millennial production techniques. Their debut record confronted displacement, notably that following the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt in 1970 and the consequent flooding in lower Nubia (the region along the Nile in Sudan bordering Egypt). Manara addresses similar themes, asking questions of what home means to an artist

Sir Jean & NMB Afrobeat Experience Permanent War Zaine Music (51 mins)

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On the Afrobeat frontline This French outfit comprise singer Sir Jean accompanied by the style-shifting brass band known as the NMB Afrobeat Experience. They profess to a New Orleans influence here, although it’s not obvious on this Afrobeat session.

There’s only the notable presence of a sousaphone, not a common Lagos horn, but the rest of the brass section is typical of the Afrobeat palette. The foundation is provided by percussion,

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guitar, keyboards and said horns, with Sir Jean ever-present on the vocal front. In fact, he’s a touch too present, rarely letting up in his verbal flow, and not doing much singing, but mostly chanting and reciting. This would be fine if the content of his words had substance, but on several songs they lack the wit, energy and individuality to justify their dominance. Three of the numbers are surprisingly short for Afrobeat, clocking in at under three minutes. ‘Let Dem Do’ and ‘Take the Time’ highlight some satisfying saxophone action, and ‘Never Know’ has a prominent sousaphone introduction, but such episodes are lamentably brief.

MARTIN LONGLEY

TRACK TO TRY Permanent War

both grounded in Brooklyn yet with a sense of longing for the motherland. It’s an infectious and alluring listen, too. ‘Alforac’ showcases Alsarah’s stunning voice, her deft vocal lines matching the delicately nuanced accompaniment, while album centrepiece ‘Ya Watan’ is equally understated and magical. It’s the title-track though that really stands out. It’s a truly beautiful exposition that marries the delicate percussive work of Rami El Aasser with some brooding oud (lute) flourishes from Brandon Terzic: a meditative masterpiece that comprehensively captures the sound of this highly talented ensemble.

ALEX DE LACEY

TRACK TO TRY Manara

VARIOUS ARTISTS Kenya Special Vol 2 Soundway Records (79 mins)

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A treasure trove of Kenyan vinyl, scratches and all The first volume in Soundway’s Kenya Special series was released in 2013 and gave us a generous 32 tracks of classic 1970s and 80s rumba and benga from East Africa. The second volume offers 17 more examples from the same rich crate-load, painstakingly rescued in the most part from rare 45rpm 7” vinyl singles, many of which were only ever produced in tiny runs

of a few hundred. Several of the names are familiar from volume one, including the Lulus Band, Rift Valley Brothers, Afro 70, Peter Tsotsi Juma and the Eagles Lupopo. Others will be unfamiliar except to a handful of archivists and private collectors.

Among those now gaining wider currency for the first time are the Bahari Boys, with their horn-led Afro-Cuban rumba; African Vibration, whose echoing jungle-rock chants have a hint of Santana about them; the raw Afrobeat of Awengele; the slinky dance rhythms of Kilwa Jazz, who sound like an East African Orchestra Baobab, and the swaying Swahili sounds of Orchestre les Mangelepa.

The sound quality isn’t always pristine, which is understandable given the

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Africa REVIEWS scratchy sources from which the material has been mastered. But we should be grateful that this evocative music has been preserved at all.

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Simba Yuna Nguruma

by Bahari Boys

Nigeria Soul Fever Soul Jazz Records (2 CDs, 90 mins)

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What happened when the disco era discovered Lagos All but two of the 16 tracks here were recorded between 1977 and 1980 at the height of the disco craze, which took hold in the clubs of Lagos as ubiquitously as it did on the dance floors of Europe and the US. Some of it is a blatant imitation, with little indication that this is Nigerian music at all. Tee Mac’s ‘Living Everyday’ finds singer Marjorie Barnes searching for her inner Gloria Gaynor; the synth-funk of Arakatula’s ‘Mr Been To’ could have been lifted from a Stevie Wonder album; and ‘Disco Dancing’

by Angela Starr is a piece of insubstantial Western-style disco froth.

But it gets better. Christy Essien’s 1979 hit ‘You Can’t Change a Man’ sounds like a disco classic in any language.

Joni Haastrup, who sang with Fela Kuti’s band in the 1960s, successfully updates Afrobeat for the disco era on ‘Free My People’ and ‘Do the Funkro’, while Akin Richards and the Executives sound thrillingly like Earth, Wind & Fire shaking their booty in a Lagos speakeasy on ‘Afrikana Disco’. Best of all, though, is the highlife-Afrobeat-disco hybrid forged

by Jimmy Sherry & the Musik Agents on the 13-minute ‘Nwaeze’. Boogie wonderland, indeed.

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Nwaeze by Jimmy Sherry and the Musik Agents

They Will Have to Kill Us First: Original Soundtrack Transgressive Records (67 mins)

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Powerful soundtrack to an essential documentary The debut film from director Johanna Schwartz, They Will Have to Kill Us First, was released in 2015 and compellingly told the story of the musicians forced into exile when Islamic jihadists overran northern Mali

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in 2012 and imposed strict sharia law.

The film’s soundtrack, produced by Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ guitarist Nick Zinner and now released on CD for the first time, is a shifting, kaleidoscopic collage of acoustic and electric West African styles, with Zinner’s own bluesy guitar interludes augmenting recordings by various Tinariwen alumni, a stalwart Timbuktu contingent including Afel Bocoum and Vieux Farka Touré, and the young band Songhoy Blues, whose debut album he also produced and who feature on eight of the 32 tracks.

Clever use of spoken snippets from news bulletins remind us that this is not simply a sampler of the best of Malian blues but a document of a tragic episode in recent African history, in which music emerged as a potent weapon against totalitarianism.

Powerful as the film is, it is probably something you only need to watch the once. The soundtrack, however, warrants returning to again and again as it weaves diffuse sonic elements into a wonderfully cohesive desertrock concerto, one which suggests Zinner has been listening acutely to Ry Cooder’s excellent film work.

Lingala and Dholuo vocals. All the bands represented certainly knew what it took to capture the attention of a dancing audience. The fizz of the hi-hat and solid rumble from the bass guitar drives the music forward while the guitars dazzle. Some groups have raspy seductive horn sections (such as Dar International); some rely on frantic Benga style guitar picking

(Victoria Jazz and Kauma Boys).

There’s Afro-funk from Sunburst Band, an individual take on Afrobeat from Johnny Bokelo, and even unusual variations such as a coastal taarab flavour from Slim Ali. A splendid compilation packed with revelations.

MARTIN SINNOCK

TRACK TO TRY Nauli Ya Uda by Urafiki Jazz Band

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Du Sang dans le Sable

Urgent Jumping! East African Musiki Wa Dansi Classics

TOP

Sterns (2 CDs, 145 mins)

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Get this album – or you’ll be for the high jump We live in a glorious age, in which record companies are eager to open up their vaults in order to release recordings that previously have been considered as archival or redundant. In the East African countries of Tanzania and Kenya there was a music industry in the 1970s and 80s that spawned rich pickings for intrepid reissue compilers. This double-CD collects music from the Nairobi-based AI Records label. It features bands that included musicians from the Congo as well as eastern and southern Africa and the musical style is a mixture of the highly popular Congolese guitar-band styles and Kenyan benga.

Known in East Africa as zilipendwa, this is the music preferred by the older generation – tracks that could be called Golden Oldies.

There is a good mixture here with predominantly Swahili, but also

OFTHE WORLD TRACK 6

Diabel Cissokho Tambacounda Express Kafou Music (59 mins)

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All aboard the kora train – no penalty fares here The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian once sang that ‘there’s 1,352 guitar pickers in Nashville’; there are surely at least as many kora players in West Africa.

The Senegalese kora player Diabel Cissokho’s CV includes Mansana Blues, a fusion album with the British blues guitarist Ramon Goose, and 2012’s Kanabory Siyama, an authentic roots album of elegant Mande melodies. The follow-up, Tambacounda Express, combines elements of both approaches. Taking its title from the train he rode as a boy through Mali, the Ivory Coast and Senegal to earn loose change by helping passengers on and off with their luggage, the

15 tracks reflect the journey, incorporating a panoply of regional West African styles. The opener, ‘Goré Island’, is a funk-fuelled Afro-blues with wailing harmonica and electric guitar complementing Cissokho’s rhythmic kora playing as he sings in a deep sonorous voice over a John Lee Hooker-style beat.

‘Kélékelé’ is a meltingly beautiful Mande tune played solo on the kora and sounding, in Toumani Diabaté fashion, as if he’s playing two instruments simultaneously. ‘Sama Kharite’ hits with a hypnotic Ali Farka Touré-style Songhai groove and ‘Maman Africa’ is an earthy slice of unashamed Afro-pop. The results on this album are as impressive as they are diverse.

NIGEL WILLIAMSON

TRACK TO TRY Goré Island

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29th June – 8th July 2017 PRESENTS

JORDAN

A Journey through Time Specialist cultural tour

MASTER TRAVEL STUDY TOURS Escorted tours with a personal touch Highlights include: • Explore the World Wonder of Petra • Experience floating in the Dead Sea • Visit the preserved ancient Roman city of Jerash • Take part in a cooking master class with a Jordanian chef • Explore golden sand dunes on a camel back safari • Pass the famous Seven Pillars of Wisdom like Lawrence of Arabia in the Wadi Rum Desert • Spend a night in a plush Bedouin desert camp in Wadi Rum • Swim in the shimmering waters of the Red Sea

Call us on 020 7501 6741

www.mastertravel.co.uk

To receive a tour brochure that includes a full itinerary,

02075016741, email tours@mastertravel.co.uk or visit our website www.mastertravel.co.uk

please call

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Book REVIEWS Seismographic Sounds: Visions of a New World Theresa Beyer, Thomas Burkhalter & Hannes Liechti (eds) Norient (504 pages)

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Ambitious, perceptive analysis of our global video age

One Love Books (272 pages)

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Giving dancehall its style

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JEFF KALISS

ALEX DE LACEY

Some of Wilfred Limonious’ art as featured in In Fine Style

In Fine Style: The Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious Christopher Bateman & Al ‘Fingers’ Newman

In the 1980s dancehall emerged as the new sound of Jamaica. It was the perfect antidote to roots reggae, which had become increasingly spiritual and political during the 70s, and which had largely disappeared from the international spotlight following Bob Marley’s death.

Dancehall was harsher, cruder, more superficial, but it was also more vivacious and full of humour. If roots reggae represented the socio-political side of Jamaican life, then dancehall was the sound of the masses, of late-night parties and of the Jamaican propensity for enjoying the lighter side of life. Through his album covers and comic strips Wilfred Limonious gave dancehall a trademark visual style full of larger-than-life characters, snappy patois and vivid colours, all of which are captured in this image-packed tome. After starting out writing comic strips for Jamaican newspapers in the mid-70s, Limonious went on to become one of the most sought-after album cover designers of the 80s – producing covers for Yellowman, U-Roy, Sugar Minott and many others – before passing away in the late 90s. It’s these covers that are represented best here.

Using a comic visual style they offer vignettes of Jamaican life, showing scenes at dancehall parties, rude bwoys getting up to mischief or chancers failing to impress the ladies. Recalling

this sort of compelling, hyper-dramatic intensity. Mezzo — the pseudonym of Pascal Mesemberg — credits the varied influences of realist film director Orson Welles, Chester Gould (creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip) and Robert Crumb. Dupont, whose French is here translated to English by Ivanka Hahnenberger, approaches his tale rather like a film script, with a narrated introduction, a flashback to Johnson’s biological father, and a short account of the bluesman’s childhood and young manhood. For fans of Johnson and/or early blues, Mezzo’s black-and-white images of Johnson’s domestic tragedies and damaging habits may stand closer to the spirit of the music than any standard biography bearing only the few existing photos of the short-lived legend. Dupont and Mezzo creatively interpolate images and accounts of Johnson’s musical mentors and collaborators, including Son House, Tommy Johnson, Memphis Slim, and the never-recorded Ike Zimmerman.

The French pair’s painstaking historical research is apparent both in their story’s details and in Mezzo’s rendering of rural and urban scenes, clothing, and even the African mythological basis of Johnson’s purported encounter with a spirit at a Mississippi crossroads.

Also enhancing the narrative are snippets from various of Johnson’s songs, of which the complete lyrics of several are presented at the book’s end.

This slim but unforgettable volume will satisfy all aspiring and established blues makers and fans, but be advised that Johnson’s carnal inspirations are also graphically depicted.

This enlightening collection is the second to emerge from the Norient project: a global network that examines trends in music and media culture. For this particular endeavour, the collective – based in Bern, Switzerland – turns its attention to music video, its powerful scope for expression and its ease of dissemination, via YouTube and other media platforms. It focuses upon 24 videos; a team of nearly 50 writers has provided personal responses that feature alongside interviews, think pieces and original artwork.

On the surface this project seems a tad ambitious in its remit. However the six-way thematic split – covering ‘Loneliness’, ‘Exotica’, ‘War’, ‘Money’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Belonging’ – provides easy navigation, and each entry is evocative, incisive and full of recommendations for further exploration. The book prides itself on creating a ‘theory of today’ working from the ground up to produce refreshing writing and new ideas. Of particular note is Jenny Mbaye and Aisha Deme’s entry on Senegalese rap duo Xuman et Keyti and their use of parody. Using a fictional news channel to produce a spoof version of Stromae’s ‘Formidable’ they satirise the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, who was charged with corruption in 2013. The globally recognisable track and its relation to a specifically local matter powerfully undermines Wade in a humorous manner that ‘effectively denounces [his] derailed political legitimacy and accountability.’

Thomas Burkhalter’s interview with Martin Stokes is magnificent, confronting ‘the exotic’ and all the varying ways in which it manifests itself in modern-day musical consumption, while the section devoted to shangaan electro and exotica in South African house music is essential reading.

The eclectic mix also features some UK entries with analysis of grime’s relationship with combative imagery, dubstep’s melancholy (through the eyes of the producer Burial) and the frenetic sounds of the Hi-Tech underground.

Viz at times because of the crass humour and stereotypical characters (which could be perceived as misogynistic) they offer a glimpse into the Jamaican character that’s not often revealed, largely because books about dancehall art don’t come around very often. Offering insightful articles on Jamaican humour, dancehall and Limonious himself, In Fine Style is the first book to focus on the life and work of this bold and playful artist and serves well in bringing a little-known side of dancehall culture to life.

RUSS SLATER

Love in Vain: Robert Johnson, 1911-1938 JM Dupont & Mezzo Faber & Faber (73 pages)

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Inspired imagining of the famous bluesman’s life There’s a stunning symbiosis between the soul-stirring, bare-bones blues legacy of guitarist and singer-songwriter Robert Johnson and the approach to his life’s story by the French team of JM Dupont (author) and Mezzo (artist). Graphic biographies, a literary cousin of graphic novels, have been around for a few years, but rarely do they achieve

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Gig Guide

ON TOUR

BKO Quintet Malian traditional music with a contemporary twist While the roots of their music lie in traditional folklore, an electric and urban edge modernises the sound of the BKO Quintet, which consists of four Malians and one French musician. The ngoni, the guitar of the griots, and the donso ngoni, the kora-like harp-lute of the Bamana

hunters, are accompanied by the master djembé (drum) playing of Ibrahima Sarr and the hybrid drum kit of French percussionist Aymeric Krol.

Powerful lead vocals from Fassara Sacko add to a compelling instrumental performance to create a unique live experience.

27 NOV Oslo, London 020 3553 4831; 28 NOV Sound Control, Manchester 0161 236 0340; 29 NOV The Parish, Huddersfield 01484 522800; 1 DEC 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool 0871 220 0260; 2 DEC Thekla, Bristol 0117 929 9008; 3 DEC The Duke of Cumberland, Whitstable 01227 280617; 4 DEC Norwich Arts Centre 01603 660352.

7498; Lambrego + London Lucumi Choir The Clore Ballroom at RFH FREE 0844 875 0073; 13 DEC Buika Eventim Apollo 0844 249 4300.

5 NOV Michael Messer’s Mitra Wyeside Arts Centre, Builth Wells 01982 552555.

SOUTH 11 NOV Nils Økland Band Turner Sims, Southampton 023 8059 5151; 12 NOV Peggy Seeger The Anvil, Basingstoke 01256 844244; 13 NOV Tobias Ben Jacob & Lukas Drinkwater Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon 01225 860100; 15 NOV Dona Rosa Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon 01225 860100; 17 NOV The High Kings The Stables, Milton Keynes 01908 280800; 2 DEC ELDA Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford on Avon 01225 860100.

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MIDLANDS 5 NOV Nitin Mukesh De Montfort Hall, Leicester 0116 233 3111; 9 NOV Warsaw Village Band Lakeside, Nottingham 0115 846 7777; 10 NOV Anoushka Shankar Symphony Hall, Birmingham 0121 780 3333; 11 NOV Vula Viel Derby Silk Mill Museum derby-jazz.co.uk; 12 NOV Diwali Utsav Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton sampad.org.uk; Rabo de Foguete Norwich Arts Centre 01603 660352;

The Anna Mudeka Band Shakespeare Barn, King’s Lynn 01553 764864; 16 NOV Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle Lakeside, Nottingham 0115 846 7777; 17 NOV Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers Abbey Theatre, Nuneaton 0333 666 3366; 18 NOV Altaf Raja Maher Centre, Leicester chillitickets.com; 24-27 NOV Birmingham TradFest birminghamtradfest.co.uk; 25 NOV Mika Singh Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham 0844 338 8000; 2-5 DEC The Great British Folk Festival Butlins Skegness bigweekends.com

NORTH 4 NOV Tinariwen Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds 0871 220 0260; 5 NOV

Tinariwen The Brewery, Kendal 01539 725133; 6 NOV Tinariwen Band on the Wall, Manchester 08452 500 500; 10 NOV Vula Viel Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield 0114 273 0800; 11-12 NOV Southport Fiddle Festival The Atkinson theatkinson.co.uk; 12 NOV Diwali Celebrations Gateshead Civic Centre gemarts.org; Apsaras Arts Singapore The Capstone, Liverpool 0151 291 3949; Warsaw Village Band Junction, Goole 01405 763652; 14 NOV Sona Jobarteh Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield 0114 273 0800; 18 NOV Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers NCEM, York 01904 658338; 19 NOV Peggy Seeger & Martin Carthy Ramsbottom Civic Hall 0161 761 2216; Tarang The Capstone, Liverpool FREE 0151 291 3949; Altaf Raja 3D Centre, Bolton chillitickets.com; 23 NOV Rafiki Jazz Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield 0114 273 0800; 26 NOV Delight of Korea Kala Sangam, Bradford 01274 303340; Mika Singh First Direct Arena, Leeds 0844 248 1585; 29 NOV Tarang Bridgewater Hall, Manchester 0161 907 9000; 30 NOV Modou Touré & Ramon Goose Music Room, Liverpool 0151 709 3789; 3 DEC Jai Ho Ho Ho: A Bollywood Evening Caedmon Hall, Gateshead gemarts.org; Supriya Nagarajan, Duncan Chapman & Mike McInerney Kala Sangam, Bradford 01274 303340; Amadou & Mariam Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 0151 709 3789; 10 DEC Chalte-Chalte The Capstone, Liverpool 0151 291 3949; 14 DEC A Filetta Howard Assembly Room, Leeds 0844 848 2727.

SCOTLAND 11 NOV Warsaw Village Band Studio 24, Edinburgh 0131 220 3234; 18-20 NOV Scots Fiddle Festival The Queen’s Hall and Summerhall, Edinburgh scotsfiddlefestival.com; 19 NOV Duncan Chisholm Tolbooth, Stirling 01786 274000; Breabach + Talisk + The Routes Quartet The Islay Sessions islaysessions.co.uk; Ewan MacPherson Comrie White Church eventbrite.co.uk; 26 NOV Duncan Chisholm Eden Court, Inverness 01463 234234; Treacherous Orchestra The Brunton, Musselburgh 0131 665 2240; 27 NOV Ewan MacPherson Edinburgh House Concert info@douglasinscotland.co.uk; 2 DEC Skerryvore + Socks in the Frying Pan Darvel Town Hall 0141 204 5151; 3 DEC MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards Dundee Caird Hall scotstradmusicawards.com

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Gig Guide

IRELAND (REPUBLIC & NORTHERN)

18 NOV Christy Moore with Declan Sinnott & Jim Higgins Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim +353 (0)46 9482100; 26 NOV Arve Henriksen with Trio Mediæval Royal College of Physicians, Dublin +353 (0)1 4750224; 27 NOV Arve Henriksen with Trio Mediæval National Opera House, Wexford +353 (0)53 9122144.

TOURS

Jon Boden

The lead singer from Bellowhead 7 NOV Octagon Theatre, Yeovil 01935 422884; 8 NOV Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth 023 9286 3911; 9 NOV The Stables, Milton Keynes 01908 280800; 10 NOV Oxford Academy 0871 2200 260; 11 NOV Union Chapel, London 0871 220 0260; 12 NOV Revelation, Ashford 01233 663201; 13 NOV Colston Hall, Bristol 0844 887 1500; 14 NOV The Met, Bury 0161 761 2216; 15 NOV The Brewery, Kendal 01539 725133; 16 NOV Gala, Durham 03000 266600; 17 NOV Theatre Severn,

Shrewsbury 01743 281281; 18 NOV Victoria Hall, Saltaire 01274 588614; 19 NOV South Holland Centre, Spalding 01775 764777; 20 NOV The Apex, Bury St Edmunds 01284 758000.

6800; 9 DEC Plumley Village Hall, Knutsford 01565 722257; 10 DEC Upton Village Hall, Salisbury 01244 379568; 11 DEC Norley Village Hall, Frodsham 07770 701069.

Budapest Cafe Orchestra

Eliza Carthy

5 NOV Market Theatre, Ledbury 07967 517125; 11 NOV Little Budworth Jubilee Hall 01829 760422; 12 NOV Cuddington & Sandiway Village Hall 01606 883128; 26 NOV Glastonbury Frost Fayre FREE bit.ly/glastonburyff; 8 DEC Little Sutton Library 0151 337

4 NOV St Mary in the Castle, Hastings 01323 841414; 5 NOV Islington Assembly Hall, London 0871 220 0260; 6 NOV Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry 024 7652 4524; 11 NOV Salisbury City Hall 01722 434434; 12 NOV RNCM, Manchester 0161 907 5555; 13 NOV

Infectious sounds of the Balkans

With her Wayward Band

Afro Celt Sound System Celebrating 20 years

4 NOV Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury 01743 281281; 5 NOV The Leadmill, Sheffield 0114 272 7040; 7 NOV Town Hall, Birmingham 0121 780 3333; 8 NOV Colchester Arts Centre 01206 500900; 9 NOV Octagon Theatre, Yeovil 01935 422884; 10 NOV Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth 023 9286 3911; 11 NOV Buxton Opera House 01298 72190; 12 NOV Exeter Phoenix 01392 667080; 13 NOV Concorde 2, Brighton 01273 673311.

Belshazzar’s Feast

Festive capers from folk duo 25 NOV The Bell Inn, Adderbury 01295 819338; 26 NOV Peel Centenary Centre etickets.im; 28 NOV Colchester Arts Centre 01206 500900; 29 NOV The Junction, Cambridge 01223 511511; 1 DEC Towcester Mill Brewery 07867 784563; 2 DEC Chesterfield Folk Club chesterfieldfolkclub.org; 3 DEC The Witham, Barnard Castle 01833 631107; 4 DEC The Hothouse, Morecambe 01524 831997; 5 DEC Caerleon Town Hall 01633 420404; 8 DEC Halsway Manor 01984 618274; 9 DEC The Talbot Theatre, Whitchurch 01948 660660; 10 DEC New Radnor Community Hall 01544 350268; 11 DEC The Fleece Inn, Bretforton 01386 831173; 12 DEC Grand Union Folk Club, Barrow upon Soar 01509 813566; 13 DEC Old Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead 01442 228091; 15 DEC Music Room, Liverpool 0151 709 3789; 16 DEC Downend Folk Club, Bristol 07837 881941; 17 DEC The David Hall, South Petherton 01460 240340; 18 DEC Gill Nethercott Centre, Whitchurch 01256 896270; 19 DEC Nettlebed Folk Club, Henley-onThames 01628 636620; 20 DEC Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury 01227 787787; 21 DEC The Oval Tavern, Croydon 020 8405 3887.

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ON TOUR

Flats & Sharps Bluegrass quintet tour debut album

Hailing from rural Cornwall, this supremely talented quintet is quickly gathering the followers they deserve as they continue touring the UK. They have spent their five years together perfecting a display of striking harmonies and stunning musicianship, having played at over 350 venues, including a headline performance

at Ireland’s Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

Building country, folk and numerous other influences upon a solid foundation of bluegrass, their debut released in early 2016 showcases 11 originals, three covers, and is packed with virtuosic mandolin, fiddle and banjo solos. The chance to see these guys live is not to be missed.

6 NOV Exeter Phoenix 01392 667080; 10 NOV Sandford Orcas Village Hall, Sherborne 01963 220208; 11 NOV Powerstock Hut 01308 485264; 12 NOV Sturminster Marshall Memorial Hall 01258 857447; 13 NOV Studland Village Hall 01929 450204; 9 DEC Old Fire Station, Carlisle 01228 817358.

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Overseas Festivals

Alex de Lacey looks at a handful of forthcoming festival highlights happening around the world

Some of the colourful sights at Australia’s Woodford Folk Festival

Beirut & Beyond International Music Festival December 8-11 Beirut, Lebanon

Musical delights in the Paris of the Middle East Beirut’s unique combination of Ottoman architecture, café culture and luscious Mediterranean coastline make it a fascinating – and remarkably beautiful – place to visit, notwithstanding its highly acclaimed music festival. Lebanon is often seen as a meeting point between East and West and this four-day affair showcases both local and international artists influenced by Arabic music, while hosting talks and seminars on the future of an autonomous music industry within the region.

This year’s line-up has a markedly electronic feel with performances

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from Palestinian singer Kamilya Jubran’s Wasl Trio, Tunisian producer Ghoula (whose debut album Hlib el Ghoula combines folk and Berber song from North Africa with meditative beat), and Syrian rap group LaTlateh, who are a fiery ensemble communicating the terrors of war through hip-hop exposition.

Los Angeles’ beat maker Bei Ru and Lebanese singer-songwriter Youmna Saba will also perform. www.beirutandbeyond.net

Woodford Folk Festival

December 27-January 1 Queensland, Australia Folk, fun and festivities on Australia’s Sunshine Coast

Situated within the majestic Sunshine Coast Hinterland lies Woodfordia: a beauteous 500-acre environmental

parkland that has been home to the largest folk festival in Australia for over 30 years. Woodford Folk Festival is a multi-arts extravaganza with 35 dedicated performance venues and creative fervour spilling out onto the streets with parades, dancing and a travelling theatre. The festival will culminate on New Years Day with a Sunrise Ceremony, which will incorporate fire displays, fireworks and breathtaking visuals.

This year the Woodford Folk Festival will host its inaugural ‘First Nations’ programme, celebrating the musical exploits of indigenous women. Melbourne singer-songwriter Tash Sultana, the Stingray Sisters and Buffy Sainte-Marie are among the performers announced so far. Vieux Farka Touré and Seekers guitarist Keith Potger will also feature. www.woodfordfolkfestival.com

Udaipur World Music Festival February 10-12 Rajasthan, India

Romantic resplendence in India The second edition of this festival follows on from the great success of its premiere last spring. The city of Udaipur is located on the southern slope of the Aravalli range and is organised around five great lakes.

It’s a truly picturesque environment and the festival itself is well curated with acts from over 20 countries across the globe – including Senegal, Macedonia and host nation India – set to perform. Karnatic composer and vocalist Bombay Jayashri, fado singer António Zambujo, Ablaye Cissoko and Canadian duo Niyaz (Azam Ali and Loga Ramin) are among the early announcements for 2017. www.udaipurworldmusicfestival.com

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ESSENTIAL

POLYPHONIC CHORAL ALBUMS Following Katie Melua’s polyphonic singing playlist selections (see p7), Kim Burton selects ten more albums guaranteed to get you hooked on this stunning music

01 Ensemble Tirana Chants Polyphoniques d’Albanie (Iris Music, 1998)

Albania has two thriving drone-based polyphonic traditions, the heroic and stern Lab style and the gentler lamenting songs of the Tosks. Unusually, Ensemble Tirana have mastered both styles, the opener ‘Mbeç More, Shokë Mbeç’ being a glorious example of the second, and ‘Lunxheri, Krahinë e Bukur’ of the first. This is a fine introduction to one of the richest song traditions in Europe.

02 Klapa Crikvenica Live (Aquarius Records, 2005)

Croatia’s Dalmatian coast is home to a host of klapa, whose close-harmony versions of romantic and nostalgic song have become increasingly popular since the turn of the century. Klapa Crikvenica are one of the most mellifluous groups of a mellifluous tradition, and their lazy, floating sound suits the rich consonance of these smart and delicate arrangements.

03 Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (4AD, 1986)

Bulgaria still retains a village tradition of multi-voice singing, but it is this set of beautiful arrangements performed by women that captured the imagination of the West at a time when Bulgaria was still little-known to many.

The simple closer ‘Polegnala e Todora’ remains one of the most affecting performances to emerge from the country’s folk choir movement.

04 Polynushka Authentic Russian Folklore in Urban Culture

(Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, 2008)

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The authenticity here is mediated through a multinational chorus based in Berlin, but their grasp of Russian and Ukrainian rural traditions is based by extensive fieldwork and painstaking archival research. But there is nothing dry about their intense and focused sound: the heterophonic clash of near-unisons, tapestry of overlapping lines, and parallel fifths vying with contrary motion for a disconcerting effect.

05 The Rustavi Choir Mirangula (Sony Classical, 1994)

The Rustavi Choir are certainly the most famous of the professional groups specialising in the rugged sound of Georgian men’s choral singing. Parallel thirds and triads move in sonorous blocks above shifting drones, with sustained dissonances building massive tension and release.

06 Sathanao Georgian Church and Secular Music (Sathanao, 2008)

The Georgian choral tradition is mainly identified with men, but towards the end of last century women’s ensembles have become more prominent. Sathanao is one of these, concentrating on reviving the rich repertoire of religious chant, leavened here with some lovely secular tracks. There is more sweetness here than in the men’s songs, but the tough harmonies remain the same.

07 Ivan Spassov Aishinka (Concord Jazz, 1996)

Spassov was perhaps the finest, most innovative and assured of all arrangers of Bulgarian folk texts, and his gift is heard clearly on this splendid selection of his work, which includes the classic ‘Mehmetyo’ with its powerful aleatoric play of timbre and texture. It’s especially rewarding to

compare the two versions here, one by a folk choir and one by an academic ensemble.

08 Squadra di Lamentatori della Chiesa Madre La Settimana Santa a Montedoro (NOTA, 1995) The complex rituals of Holy Week in Sicily are accompanied by performances from a local squadra, a group of up to eight who sing together throughout the year, a solo voice set against a sinewy three-part choral texture in a sequence of passionate religious laments.

The performance of ‘Sede la Madre’ here demonstrates the emotional intensity generated by the encounter of religion and folk song.

09 Tenores di Bitti S’amore ’e Mama (Real World, 1996)

The slightly nasal, closely harmonised singing of Sardinian men’s groups creates a shimmering skein of buzzing harmonics, often coupled with a tremendous rhythmic punch. Still active after almost 50 years, Tenores di Bitti have taken these demanding, sometimes lamenting and sometimes cheery songs all over the world.

10 Värttinä Viena (Westpark, 2016)

Finnish group Värttinä’s intertwining melodies are closer to the ‘classical’ idea of harmony produced by the confluence of independently moving lines than the Mediterranean or Georgian styles, although less so in the unaccompanied songs such as ‘Rajan Joiku’.

This selection of songs collected in Russian Karelia is some of their most interesting work.

A Top of the World in #116.

+ LET US KNOW Have any other suggestions?

Let us know, letters@songlines.co.uk

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