African

Johnny Clegg & Savuka - In My African Dream (The Best Of)
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 484 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI # 7234 8 30073 2 5 | Country/Year: Europe 1994
Genre: Folk, Pop | Style: World Pop, Folk Rock

Globally, Clegg is probably best recalled for "Scatterlings of Africa," understandably the leadoff track here. If not his manifesto (which was established long before his international fame), it makes his point, the mixing of rock and Zulu music, quite succinctly and wonderfully – and he was doing it long before it became fashionable (indeed, while it was illegal under South Africa's apartheid laws). (…) Johnny Clegg & Savuka were always about more than the music, however; they put it together politically, too, a huge act of defiance that was reflected in the lyrics and sound. As the man said, think and dance.

Sometimes a musical message is so urgent that questions of recording quality are almost beside the point. Informally recorded in 1969 in a noisy club – Copenhagen’s famous Jazzhus Montmartre – the flavour of this album is ‘documentary’ rather than luxuriantly hi-fidelity, yet the essence of Abdullah Ibrahim’s communication comes through loud and clear. The listener is drawn into the robust rhythms of his solo piano style, as he re-examines the history of jazz from a South African perspective, with echoes of songs of the townships, and vamps that hint of Monk and Duke and much more. African Piano was a highly influential album, and it has lost none of its power.As part of the Re:solutions series this historical title has been mastered from original analog sources and reissued in January 2014.

Hugh Masekela has an extensive jazz background and credentials, but has enjoyed major success as one of the earliest leaders in the world fusion mode. Masekela's vibrant trumpet and flugelhorn solos have been featured in pop, R&B, disco, Afro-pop, and jazz contexts. He's had American and international hits, worked with bands around the world, and played with African, African-American, European, and various American musicians during a stellar career. His style, especially on flugelhorn, is a charismatic blend of striking upper-register lines, half-valve effects, and repetitive figures and phrases, with some note bending, slurs, and tonal colors.

Not very many reggae albums acknowledge Alan Lomax in the credits. But then, African Head Charge (a band with a constantly changing membership led by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah) doesn't really make typical reggae albums. Although the one-drop beat (provided on this album by Lincoln "Style" Scott) influences everything and the basslines have a typical tidal undertow, the stuff that Noah layers on top of the mix has more to do with ethnomusicology than the dancehall. The song titles say it all: "Cattle Herders Chant," a field recording of call-and-response chanting overlaid with Nyahbinghi drums and highlife guitar; "My God," eerie, minor-key African-American church singing supported by a chugging reggae bassline, bare-bones drumming, and the sound of running water; "Deer Spirit Song," an unidentifiable indigenous song in 9/8 meter with a gently driving rockers beat and occasional sound effects thrown in. This is an exceptionally beautiful album, but in a deeply strange way.

This project is built on a paradox: the idea that a large-scale African landscape can best be expressed musically in the most Germanic of media, the full romantic orchestra. Schnyder employs a sonic palette closely associated with Bruckner, Mahler and Strauss. It works because Ibrahim's eclecticism extends far beyond his African roots and encompasses American jazz and blues, Arabic influences, English choral and European romantic music. (Schnyder points out that, as a master of suspense and musical space, Ibrahim is a great "rest composer" in the tradition of Bach and Beethoven.) It also works because Schnyder's arrangements are deeply in touch with Ibrahim's belief in the hypnotic, cathartic, healing power of music. The huge ensemble never overwhelms or intrudes. It surrounds Ibrahim's trio (with Marcus McLaurine on bass and George Gray on drums) with airy, translucent elaborations that add scale and texture and fascinating detail to this varied fabric of incantations.