The music scene has been given a boost this year with the return of tourists and the reopening of entertainment venues. Festivals are returning to the provinces this month and the local circuits for rock and luk thung are back, too. The summer festival season in Europe, Japan and North America also returned and coincided with lots of summer and now winter music releases. The World Beat desk is groaning under the weight of new music.
The Transglobal World Music Chart for November has some exciting new albums, led by Antonis Antoniou's Throisma, who is a member of Monsieur Doumani, a band that has featured in the column several times. This solo project celebrates Cypriot music with a hard roots sound, led by the evocative title track.
Also riding high on the chart, in the No.2 spot is a wonderful album, Who Are We? from Paris-based psych-rockers Al-Qasar, who have channelled poetry, the politics of exile and a melange of sounds from across the Arabic world, including shards of gnawa, rai and "desert blues", and prog rock and punk. I heard that the band calls their music "Arabian Fuzz" which when you hear outstanding tracks like the official single Hobek Thawrat and the angry Mal Wa Jamal (with great vocals by Egyptian singer Hend Elrawy) seems appropriate.
The most pleasant surprise of the chart was the recent entry at No.20 by the Welsh folk (three fiddle, three voices) band VRi. Their Islais A Genir (A Sung Whisper) album, sung in Welsh, has a haunting sound that drew me back to North Wales, where my family lives. The music seems to describe that green and often very wet landscape; the band call their style "chamberfolk". VRi is an old Welsh word that means up or levitating (I suppose like rising up). The liner notes for the album explain that the band has spent time researching Welsh language songs, many of which were suppressed during a Methodist revival in the late 19th century. They quite rightly believe that folk music should be available to everyone.
Welsh-language music has become much more popular of late, and there is a new generation of Welsh-language bands like World Beat favourite Calan. And, of course, Welsh harp player (this was one of the few instruments to survive the musical crackdown in the 1890s) Katrina Finch has formed a very successful partnership with West African kora player Seckou Keita. In fact, the duo have just released a new album, Echo, on the Arc label.
The Northern Malian legend Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2008, was known for his repertoire of music from the region (also where Zani Diabate comes from). His son Vieux, also a wonderful guitarist, has been exploring his father's legacy by working with a wide range of genres, from reggae to rock. His latest release, which sees a return to his Songhai roots and the simpler, more direct style of his father called Les Racines, is about Mali's interminable civil conflict. It's a welcome return to the spare style of his dad.
Touré also released a collaboration with Houston-based global fusion rockers Khruangbin earlier this year, Ali. Many of the songs are Ali Farka original tunes which have been reinterpreted and given a complete makeover. A very interesting collaboration.
Some of the other highlights on the chart include Nigerian Adédèjì's unique sound on Yoruba Odyssey, forged from living in Lagos; Yoruba traditional music meets Afrobeat, funk and Congolese music on Angélique Kidjo and Ibrahim Maalouf's Queen Of Sheba; Ernesto Djedje's Roi De Ziglibithy; and the heavenly Indian classical groove of Purbayan Chatterjee and Rakesh Chaurasia's Saath Saath.
Congolese soukous legend Koffi Olomide was inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame in New York this past weekend. The man they call Mopao or The Leader is known for what he calls tcha tcho and his band performed at the ceremony. Olomide was recently appointed as a cultural ambassador by the DRC President Tshisekedi. Check out afropop.org, which has an interview with Olomide by executive producer Sean Barlow.
I will play some tcha tcho Olomide songs at my return to the DJ decks at Studio Lam on Nov 17 for World Beat night, starting at 9pm. Limited capacity, so reserve a ticket with me or turn up early! More info from Studio Lam's Facebook page.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
