A BAND CALLED CARAMELO, FLAMENCO OF MANUEL AGUJETAS, & THE FILMS OF CARLOS SAURA

A couple weeks ago I was listening to KPFK and their special guest was Manuel Agujetas, the flamenco master vocalist.  The occasion was his performance that night in an intimate performance to be held in the Los Feliz neighborhood of greater LA.  His singing was incredible, unlike anything I’ve ever heard, so rich and powerful it’d probably take several Gypsy Kings to equal it.  I even considered going to the show, but that would have required an arduous ten-minute walk from my apartment.  Who’s got the time these days?  They also interviewed him and Sr. Manuel had some interesting comments to make, one of which was something like—and I’m paraphrasing—“these days anybody can call anything flamenco”…and apparently get away with it.  He must have been talking about a band called “Caramelo”…and others, too, of course.

Caramelo is a band from Brooklyn and they’ve got a new album out called “Ride.”  If it’s a flamenco band from Brooklyn, then you might figure right away that we’re not talking about deep tradition--maybe no deeper than a few well-worn LP covers at most.  But that would be wrong.  These guys—and girl—have gone to the well, drunk deeply and come back with mixed drinks.  Sounds good to me.  The band revolves around female vocalist Sara Erde, doing bilingual bilabials on songs that range from the tango-intensive drama of “Peligrosa” to the funky who’s-yo-mama of “Brooklyn.”  What about flamenco?  Alfonso Cid handles those male vocal chores, mostly on “La Luna.”  They never claimed to be a purist flamenco group btw, but influenced, so no false advertising here.

The opening song, “The Girl is Gone” sets the hybrid pace, with a mosque-like chant “no te vayas, nina” (“don’t leave me, girl”), though most of the song is in English: “I won't be lying for my love today, Won't be crying about the way you play, Won't be waiting in an empty bed, And I won't go crazy from the words you said. High roller the deal is done, Game over, the girl is gone.”  The song features a killer lead guitar solo, too, courtesy of co-founder Jed Miley.  “Como Quieres” ups the lyrical ante, an upbeat ditty featuring a tongue-twister that had me looking for a lyrics sheet (thank you): Como quieres que te quiera, Si quien quiero que me quiera, No me quiere (“How do you want me to love you, When the one I love Doesn’t love me?).  By the time we get to “Brooklyn” it’s obvious that this band has got some pure pop hooks, upbeat and very danceable: “That’s the way we get to Brooklyn, that’s the way we go now,” and featuring a trumpet killer solo, pure pop for kids of all ages…and races.

“Nico” proves they can do a slow ballad, too, and take bilingualism to a high art: “Nico, I need to take you home, Que rico, the sugar in your soul, Despacito, the way you lose control, Nico, I need your love.”  Rico, indeed, tasty tambien I tell you, usualmente tienen que ir a south Texas to find un restaurante Mexicana serving up scrambled tongue como estas, tacos de lengua o de pura cabeza.  “Peligroso” is tango-like, gypsy—per the theme—yet light on its feet at the same time: “Why don't you stay, Here on Avenue A? Don't go back to Buenos Aires.”  “La Luna” is the one genuine flamenco song, complete with weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth: “Girl, your words, Pierce my soul. Girl, your questions, Without longed for answers. Girl, that light, In the moon of your face!!)  The album is “Ride” by Caramelo.  It’s good.  It’s out now.

But is it flamenco?  Is anything flamenco?  Carlos Saura’s flamenco film trilogy (not to be confused with the documentary, which I have yet to see) is a wonder, thesis>antithesis>synthesis.  If the first realization about flamenco is that there are guitars as well as voices…and verses, then the second is that there’s dance, equal if not more important than the song, and the third realization is that there’s a stage surrounding it all.  Saura’s trilogy is not ABOUT flamenco; it IS flamenco, in the same way that dance is.  In “Amor Brujo” the unreal is posing as real and the good guy dies.  In “Carmen” the real is posing as unreal, and the witchy woman dies.  In “Bodas de Sangre” the unreal is unreal throughout—and recognized as such—and both guys die, and the woman wails, BUT…it’s only a stage.  In all three films the actors are the same…but different, the story is the same…but different, but none of that matters.  What matters is the dance, the voice, the verse, the chord, the clap…the strut…the fret.  It’s all a stage.  Nothing matters, but honor, and dignity, and the dance, and the music.  The characters, notes, movements, and sounds are just playing roles, and hopefully well.

But not me.  I’m not a musician (unless the fellatio I used to perform on the business end of a trombone in high school counts as “music”).  And I’m not an actor, nor dancer, nor singer.  I’m not really even a critic.  Have you ever heard me say anything bad about any piece of work?  I’m a writer, so I look for stories.  If I can’t find one, then I’ll make one up.  I’m a philosopher, so I look for meaning.  If I can’t find any, then…you get the idea.  I want to know what’s real, behind the matrix and the makeup.  World music is full of it.  I’ve pondered mightily on “Afro-Cuban music,” but that’s nothing compared to flamenco.  What is “flamenco?”  Everybody agrees that it’s Andalusian music, but not much more.  So why is it called “Gypsy?”  It has nothing to do with the people known as Roma.  You’ll have to read long and hard before you’ll find the word “Moor,” much less “Arab,” far less “Muslim,” in describing flamenco.  But what is Andalucia?  It’s that region longest occupied by Moors, of course, over 700 years.  And what are the distinguishing characteristics of traditional flamenco, and traditional Spain, in general?  There’s honor, pride and dignity, male dominance…  Sound familiar?  Ever notice the similarity of flamenco dance to some Middle Eastern forms of dance?  Ever notice the similarity of flamenco vocals to the voice coming over the closest muezzin five times a day?  So why do so-called “gypsies” get credit for something that 700 years of Arab-Spanish culture most likely created?  You tell me.

LoCura’s “Semilla Caminante”—Latin Fusionistas to the Cor…azon

If fusion is the concept that informs the modern era as much or more than any other, then so it is in music, too.  The more influences the better.  Purity is a lonely existence.  Nothing is truly novel.  Hybrid vigor rules.  For a non-native lover of “latino music” it’s a tough row to hoe, anyway, trying to mentally categorize the sometimes-subtle distinctions between flamenco, salsa, mambo, merengue, bachata, cumbia, and tango as musical DNA jumps from Europe (and Africa) across the Atlantic to North America with a hop skip and a detour across the Caribbean on its way to the lower haunches of South America in some rough zigzag path of evolution.

Fortunately the more obvious genres of mariachi, reggaeton, ranchera, tejano, rock en espanol, and musica andina (huayno) stand out as distinct whether due to geographic or stylistic isolation, because when you get to the more individually localized, obscure, or cross-genre smaller styles of trova, vallenato, chicha, punta, son cubano, son jarocho, son huasteco, danzon veracruzano, mambo Mexicano, boleros, trio, cha-cha-cha, cumbia sonidera and canto nuevo it all starts to get a bit confusing.  Of course if you want to get technical, “the Northeastern part of Mexico is home to another popular style called Nortena, which assimilates Mexican Ranchera with Colombian cumbia and is typically played with Bavarian accordions and Bohemian polka influence. Variations of Norteña include Duranguense, Tambora, Sinaloense, corridos, and Nortec (Norteño-Techno)”—Wikipedia.  Whew!  Thank God for tequila!  Are you ready for fusion yet?

Enter a band called LoCura from San Francisco (I think I got the capitals right, still easier than tUnE yArDs).  Good ol’ San Fran; God knows I love it  and miss it.  A band this eclectic could only come from San Fran, which even in the year 2012 still has more hippies, free-thinkers, and general-purpose weirdos than Nashville has cats.  At the front of this group handling lead vocal chores is one Katalina Miletich, who was raised in Spain, albeit of an American father (no doubt a northern Californian).  The group’s other principal founder is guitarist-bassist-and-flamenco-aficionado (try saying that three times fast) Bob Sanders.  Add in a tight cast of journeymen tunesters, the cultural quirkiness and political in-yo-faceness of SF, and you’ve got the potential for something pretty unique.

Now LoCura has an album coming out called “Semilla Caminante (traveling seed)” and it’s pretty darn good, I’ll have to say.  If it didn’t hit me right at first, it came on strong the second time.  The album starts off slowly in the fogs of mystery with “Prendela,” juggling languages like so many emotions. “Got a glimpse of you dancing, it’s got a way…to move me, to soothe me into breathing, to move me, to light me up in fire… Que uno le da fuego al otro, que uno le da fuego (let each give the other fire)…prendala (light it up).   Then “Gueriller@s” (women warriors) punches up the rhythm without lightening up the mood, not too much anyway, only this time it’s political and existential, not romantic or sexual.  “Y donde vengo y a donde voy (now where do I come from and where do I go?), ‘cause I’m looking to learn my roots…guerillera, mujer magica, curandera (woman warrior, magician, shamaness, etc.)…vamos ya (let’s go!),” all in lively beat with full brass accompaniment, made for dancing…and occupying San Fran’s Mission district carnival-style.  This is good stuff.

“Con El Viento (With the Wind) continues in a similar vein (yes, THAT vein), calling for love, freedom, and justice, or so I imagine: “abre la puerta, abre la ventana, con el viento venimos (open the door, open the window, we come in with the wind)…somos movimiento, somos el agua y el viento (we’re motion, we’re water, we’re wind),” with one important addition.  This song has some pure pop hooks.  The English political back-story is nice in an explanatory way, but almost distracts from the rhythm and verbal cadence that’s already been established in Spanish.  “Squatters' Song” doesn’t make that mistake.  The story of squatters, “paracaidists (que) aqui cai’… a buscar un major futuro…un hogar para vivir (‘parachutists’ (who) just dropped in…looking for a better life…and a house to live in)” requires no long-winded explanation or PhD in economic theory, neither Keynes nor Mills nor Marx.  It’s a sign of the times, and they capture it spot-on, without breaking stride nor style.   If I can hear some Lila Downs in the previous song, then I can hear some Manu Chao in this one.  Having some political smarts and some musical chops is one thing; having some pop hooks to make it go down easy is another.  That’s pure gold, and these guys have got it, when they’re at their best.

There are other influences, too.  If “Desde Las Entrañas” is pure flamenco, or almost anyway, then “To' Pa' Mi” has got Café Tacuba written all over it.  And if “Reflections” has echoes of Violeta Parra, then “Te Sigo”is pure pop en espanol, maybe even Shakira, a reminder that these guys may still have a job even if the whole fusion thing doesn’t work out.  Of course sometimes you have to break stylistic barriers before you can fuse them.  LoCura may not be for purists who like their flamenco with at least eight guitarists and the sound of several dozen hands clapping.  But you know what we say about those people.  If they can’t take a joke, then… you know.  These guys rock…and flamenco, and tango, etc., etc.  That’s “Semilla Caminante” by LoCura, due to be released… tomorrow.  Check it out.

DEL CASTILLO’s "Infinitas Rapsodias": Guitar String Theory En Espanol

If music reviewers had to be certifiably impartial judges in order to air their opinions in these not-so-hallowed nets and webs of intrigue, then I’d have to recuse myself, because I like these guys unabashedly, have for a while as a matter of fact, ever since seeing them live in LA at a free gig in McArthur Park for the homies a few years ago.  First of all, you gotta respect any band that’ll go to those lengths to get in front of an audience.  Secondly, it’s appropriate considering that both the band and patrons were predominantly Hispanic, even though most of the audience probably never heard of them.  That’s the price you pay to be a star in Texas; you may not be a star anywhere else.  After all they were Robert Rodriquez’s “own band” Chingon back in the latter days of the “mariachi trilogy” and had a major presence in the final soundtrack and even the film itself.  Last time I checked their tour schedule a couple years ago, they still had a significant number of private parties to play.  That’s all changing.

What these guys do with nylon strings is what I like to do with my wife when coming home after a couple months in dusty lonely godforsaken countries that I have to visit just to prove to myself that they’re really there.  That’s the business of Rick and Mark del Castillo, acclaimed guitarists in the hollow body style.  What they do is a bit hard to describe, maybe something like classical Spanish speed-guitar.  Put the two of them together and it’s something to behold.  This guitar virtuosity is slathered with the icing of Alex Ruiz’s dramatic voice and muy macho personality.  They’re the cerebral European jazz musicians, solving equations with fine fret-work; he’s the bad-ass Mexican, in your face and up your spine with chilling renditions of romantic endeavor.  Most of the creative interplay of the band occurs right there, with a solid bass and percussion laying down rhythm.

Their new album is called Infinitas Rapsodias and contains a mix of new songs and old standards, and even includes a DVD.  For you initiates, the songs themselves hold no great surprises, mostly revisiting themes that have already been explored by Santana, Gypsy Kings, Los Lobos, or Los Lonelies.  It’s the musicianship that sells it, good hearty stuff that ranges from rock en Espanol to flamenco to Latin jazz, all with those distinctive guitars and that high-drama vocal, evoking the classic themes of life and love, romance and dance, heart and soul.   Still there are mysteries to be revealed internally.  The album begins with “Lumbres de Babylon (‘Lights of Babylon’),” classic Del Castillo with those great guitars, dramatic and romantic, “vamos caminando por las carreteras de la Corazon…baila conmigo (‘let’s go walking along the highways of the heart…dance with me’).”  “Fuego Egipico (‘Egypian Fire’)” follows up with a more pronounced Arab feel, guitars supplying the drama in a song purely instrumental.

At this point I realize something for maybe the first time.  I don’t know if any Spanish-language song genre—be it flamenco, salsa, whatever—has ever paid tribute to what I consider to be its significant Arab roots.  Even with flamenco, usually attributed to Spanish gitanos (gypsies), they don’t fit the description of Europe’s other groups of Romani.  It does come from Andalusia, though, the Moorish stronghold in Spain.  And of course, the Spanish history in the New World starts the same year that Arab history in Spain ends, so the culture was still mixed when it got exported.  And it’s still there today, especially in Mexico, in the machismo, in the leather work, in the horsemanship, in the adobe, and in the music, of course.  Where do you think those guitars—and horses—came from?  

“Mujer Angel” is slower, with some sweet electric guitar, a pleasant break from the usual frenetic pace the boys set, still equally romantic, “Yo por ti muriera…mujer angel (‘I’d die for you…lady angel’),” likewise “Canta de Alma—mira las estrellas, mira al cielo mira la luna que es la luna de mi pasion (‘Song of the Soul—look at the stars, look at the heavens, look at the moon that’s the moon of my passion’).”  “Brotherhood” is the only song in English, a duet with female vocals, and it’s a good one, “Oh there goes my brother, oh there goes my sister…whoa there is my mother…amen to the father.”

The rest of the album finds Del Castillo working largely in their comfort zone, with some pleasant change-ups in “Para mi Sobrina,” a mellow instrumental, and “Maria,” sung in Italian.  “Perdoname (‘Pardon me’)” has some nice piano and violin, and some painful slow revelations and supplications: “lagrimas cayeron como cae la lluvia … perdoname suplico…no me abandones, perdoname (‘tears fall like rain…forgive me, I beg you…don’t abandon me, forgive me’).”  They finish things off with a flourish in high drama, Amor Venme a Buscar, a duet with German opera diva Anna Maria Kaufmann.  How’s that for a finish?  No, music reviewers don’t have to be impartial and objective.  Sometimes we just know what we like, too.  That’s Infinitas Rapsodias by Del Castillo.  Check it out.  They’re on a world tour, also.  That’s even better. 

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Kami Thompson’s “Love Lies”: Folk Music Goes Around Until It Comes Back Around

I’ve been waiting a long time for folk music to make a comeback, without really knowing exactly what that would sound like if it did indeed happen.  Certainly the protest music of an earlier era would seem a bit dated by now, and I’m not sure if the “folk rock” of Eagles ever really qualified for that sentiment or not.  The most direct path of evolution is probably through the singer-songwriter era of the early 70’s which somehow morphed into the “Americana” which has been waiting its turn patiently in line for the last couple decades.  Its time may have finally come, what with killer albums by stalwarts Wilco and Ryan Adams and the emergence of Ray Lamontaigne and others as major new talents, not to mention hiphop fatigue and some indie music that has more pretense than promise, some of it as schlocky as the Top 40 pop it’s supposed to replace.  And you can keep your “freak folk,” too.  It may be time for something with as much substance as style.


Enter Kami Thompson, daughter of Richard and Linda, brother of Teddy, and proud owner of a new album called “Love Lies.”  It rocks. And it speaks. And it cries for forgiveness.  This is the first album I’ve heard in a while in which the lyrics are truly primary and essential.  And the music’s good, too.  After some false starts and a reluctance to join the “family business,” Kami seems to have hit her stride with this album.  I’m not sure why she’s publicizing it through world music channels, but that’s an interesting approach.  Maybe she doesn’t want to follow bro Teddy’s lead.  But in general the album follows a solid mid-tempo folk-rock beat in which the lyrics predominate, usually love found and love lost. 


Thompson establishes this pattern from the get-go with “Little Boy Blue”: “Little boy blue I miss you…singing songs in my head…thinking of you, all the time thinking of you,” thus establishing a theme she’ll return to again and again throughout the album.  So it continues with “4,000 Miles:” There’s no need to say good-bye, because there’s nothing left between us…but 4000 miles.”  Then comes what’s maybe the best song on the album IMHO: “Nice Cars:” “Ladies shouldn’t drive nice cars … they’re only gonna break our hearts.”  I’m not sure exactly what Kami’s getting at in this song, and that’s just intriguing enough to make me want to know more … but that’s not why I like the song, not the only reason anyway.  I like it because I can’t get it out of my head, the “stickiness” factor, the ability to internalize a song and make it my own.  I think that’s what Kami and/or her handlers intended for the next song—if the batting-order theory of song-on-album placement holds true.  That’s “Gotta Hold On”—“I wanta get dressed up wanna get pissed up, goin out tonight…You won’t understand…Gotta hold on to what you got, even if you don’t got a lot…even if it ain’t enough.”  It’s a good song to be sure, but the refrain’s hooks seem almost too forced and cliché to be effective for me.  I stand by my earlier opinion.


From that high point the album struggles admirably to make new statements—with mixed results. “Stormy”—“There’s a dark night falling outside…there’s a strong wind rising outside… I can see you better outside, where the air meets the sea… doesn’t matter what you do…what you say”—tries for a deeper mysterious feel and “Never Again” is a welcome slow song knuckleball mix-up pitch to the predominant rock backdrop, but still thematically similar: “I swear you said ‘never again’.” “Tick Tock” is good—“Tick tock check your watch, as you strike the match to light the fire,” but “Want You Back” is better, with classic pop hooks and nice piano—“You were never nice to me, never even held my hand… I want you back…made me cry until my eyes ached and turned red…slept around, put me dowm… bit I’m still in love.”  But this is all filler compared to the little gem that comes next: “Blood Wedding,” sung in true folk style, complete with dad Richard on mandolin, and mother Linda in mind: “be careful of love, it only brings pain… mother, I have hope in my heart and a ring on my finger. It doesn’t have to be the same for me as it was for you.” What do you do to top that?  Why not close with a Beatles song, the first one by the “quiet Beatle” to appear on an album, “Don’t Bother Me.”  Nice touch.  


This album is the real deal, rock roots and pop hooks to express a true folkie’s heart, something you couldn’t pay a Tin Pan Alley or any Brill Building to accomplish.  It’s gotta’ come from the heart, or it’s just not good enough.  This album should be getting indie airplay.  I’m not sure why it’s not.  Kami’s honesty may make her life confusing, but her music’s solid … and you gotta’ love an album whose title is at least a double entendre, mybe triple.  That’s “Love Lies” by Kami Thompson.  I’d check it out if I were you.  

“SABANI” by Leni Stern—Expect the Unexpected

You gotta’ keep an open mind.  That is one of the first things you learn in life, hopefully, and one of the best, certainly.  Now I’ll confess to no more than a vague familiarity with Leni Stern’s music prior to this album, but a quick look at the PR blurb of a lovely white lady with two traditional African musicians, claiming to pick the banjo-like ngoni old-school-style with the homies… and the first thing I think is that there must be a decent-size dollop of BS to the PR, and some old-school pretentiousness to boot.  Of course a little pretentiousness is good; that’s the stuff of creativity; so it’s just a question of proportions—and honesty—and quality.  I mean, a woman playing lead guitar is rare enough—even when well done; but ngoni? I believe Leni passes most of the tests in question here with flying colors.

The title of Leni Stern’s latest self-release is “Sabani” and the premise is simple enough, straight out of a Hollywood script in fact—kick-ass jazz guitaresse goes to Africa on a mission of goodwill and instruction, then falls in love with the place and the people and ultimately the instructor becomes the instructed, by no less than Bassekou Kouyate in fact, master of the ngoni (pronounced “ngoni”) and one of Mali’s most respected musicians.  Fast forward to the middle of the story and Leni is performing at Essakane’s Festival du Desert with the collected mass of Mali’s finest ngoni-pickers all on stage at once.  Fast forward to the present and she’s got an album together with three of Mali’s finest musicians and is embarking on a tour to share and support.  That’s not bad for a child prodigy born in Germany who made her name in New York.

This is nothing new of course.  Leni has been doing her African musical journey for at least a half decade by now, with influences from a handful of other countries and travels—including India and Madagascar—for another five years before that.  Her musical career looks a lot like my travel book, in fact.  And all that came after various and assorted work with the likes of jazz and world masters John Mclaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Bill Frisell, Michael Brecker, and many many other top luminaries.  Hers seems not so much as a musical career as a musical quest.  It’s nothing if not exhilarating.  But can you dance to it?  That’s up to you.  This could be a seated concert or SRO.  It keeps you flexible.

Leni of course is an equally accomplished lyricist as well as a smooth-fingered instrumentalist.  Her first composition in her new-found home illustrates this nicely.  It’s called “Still Bleeding” and features a theme familiar to all, regardless of continent: “It takes some time to heal a heart…it’s easier to break it…I’m still bleeding, I’m still bleeding.”  From there the lyrics only get more abtract, more obscure, more… jazzy, such as “Like A Thief, with some excellent jazz guitar: “like a thief in the night when everyone is fast asleep…loves comes on velvet feet…there’s nothing anyone can do,” or “I Was Born,” again with very nice guitar work: “I was born hungry…never felt like I could get enough.”  I get the feeling that that is the main recurring theme to much of Leni’s life and work.

Other songs are more African-inspired, like the whispery and mystical Sorcerer:” “you who can talk to the spirits…when you walk through the forest late at night and someone calls your name, don’t turn around, don’t look back…you’ll never be the same.”  “Djanfa” is sung by talking drum player Kofo and is entirely in African dialect, presumably Bambara, reminiscences of Salif Keita, to no less effect.  The two instrumentals go both ways.  “The Cat Stole the Moon” is Leni back on jazz guitar, while “An Saba” could be Ali Farka Toure’s final take of something he’d been noodling with way back when but almost forgot.  Perhaps the album’s best song is a combination of all of the above, PLUS fine female backing vocals.  “Papillon” begins in African dialect with female backing vocals and then segues into Leni’s finest voice—Ami Sacko instructed her btw—“walk along the same old street, nothing seems the same…you’re motionless silent somewhere deep inside…your heat’s still heavy I can see, but you my friend will always keep butterflies for company.”  Once again I’m reminded of Salif Keita, but maybe that should be no surprise; the album WAS recorded in his Bamako studio after all.  

I challenge you to listen to this album with closed eyes and pick the foreign white woman out of the mix.  All in all the entire work is well worth the listen, but maybe the best parts are not the ngoni numbers, but Leni’s highly accomplished electric guitar mixing and mingling with the traditional Mali urban and Sahel genres.  After all that really hasn’t been fully explored yet, except for Justin Adams’ work, but that’s a totally different much more rock & roll style.  As Dr. Santana made clear long ago, there’s always room for some virtuoso fret-work to add spice to traditional folk styles.  And he wasn’t playing banjo, either.  That’s “Sabani” by Leni Stern.  Check it out.  

“My Life” by Sia Tolno: Another African Success Story

When you hear the name of the country “Sierra Leone,” music is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind, more likely being the movie “Blood Diamond,” the Leonardo D vehicle which portrayed it largely as a tiny remote West African nation enmeshed in a violent revolution funded by corrupt and illicit mining, a portrayal at least partially true.  I think of it as the slave-era British counterpart to Liberia, a territory where freed slaves were released and allowed to make their way as best they could without the baggage of the past infringing, hence the emergence of Freetown as capital and major city.

“My Life” is the title of the new album by Sia Tolno, and this is the cultural milieu into which she was born and raised, for a while at least.  She, too, like many others, was forced to leave to escape the brutal civil war, and begin a refugee’s life of crowded cramped restless wandering, first in Guinea, then elsewhere as her fame grew.  Her music reflects that harsh reality she had to endure to survive.  Still she never forgot home, even when ir was largely reduced to ruins.  The title to her first song, “Blamah Blamah,” is the name of the town where an annual festival used to be held, back in the good ol’ pre-war days.  Such is life, one of makeshift impermanence.  Sia Tolno takes it to heart, brooding and growling and cursing the corruption and decadence, while never losing her optimism.  And still she’s pure African at heart.  If many “world music” artists seem like nothing so much as enlightened hybrids, Sia Tolno is refreshingly pure and authentic, and so is her music.


From that pure percussive African starting point, Sia proceeds to stake her claims to all the styles for which African is famous.  If she opened the album singing scat, she follows it up in “Odju Watcha” singing balls-to-the-wall blues, and to good lyrics, too: “People fight here for power… with all the gold and diamonds we’ve got…  human pride does not exist…”.  There’s some kick-ass good brass and lead guitar showcased here, too.  Then she changes it up.  This is the mark of the consummate artist, and the place where most fall short, the ability to mix it up in a variety of styles and still resonate (pun intended).  “Di ya leh” does just that, with soft and smooth balladry, Sade-like, the moody female reduced to type without being reduced in artistry.  The title song “Malaya (My life)” explains: “I spent my life making people happy when I was so sad…Oh God, take me back to your peaceful home…,” slow and brooding and accompanied by some nice clean guitar.


Just as abruptly she shifts right back into defiant mode. “Polli Polli” is a kick-ass rocker—complete with some screamin’ sax—and a blistering critique of corrupt local politics: “what did they say…sister, what did they do?... polli polli no good at all,” Sia all the while growling, cursing, kicking and screaming—yet never losing her cool.  Then another signature sound emerges in “Aya ye,” neither harsh nor soft, neither brass nor ballad, more like a jazzy reggae, light and lyrical, prophetic yet fun, “Kongossa” following in a similar vein.  “Blind Samaritan (Poor Man)” starts similarly, a reggae-like ballad, “Here comes the blind man, hoping to see the beauty of this world…no man is an island, no man stands alone.”  But it also adds another distinct sound, just when I thought Sia had pretty much shown her full palette.  She has a Latin side, too.  If this is hinted at in several songs, it’s overt in “Tonia (The Truth),” which just may be the most compelling song on the album, or at least a close second to the Afro-Beatish “Odju Watcha.”  Slow brooding and romantic and with some biting sharp guitar, Carlos Santana would be right at home on this song and Sia seems right at home with the style, too.   This could be a whole new growth area for her.


“Toumah toumah” also features some elegant guitar, and flute, and some whispering vocals that only leave one continually astounded at the range of Sia Tolno’s musical, acoustical and emotional depth.  Most of all, though, she’s an African patriot.  “Shame upon u” closes the album rocking and rollicking, “We are the owners of Africa… it belongs to us… shame upon you.”  BTW, did I mention that the album is elegantly produced, also, by Francois Breant?  She’s a keeper.  That’s “My Life” by Sia Tolno, out on December 6 on the Lusafrica label.  Know what I’d do if I were you?  I’d check it out.

JONI HAASTRUP & MONOMONO- TIME TRAVEL ON THE MAGIC CARPET DNA OF MUSIC

It’s not often that you get the chance to re-visit a bygone era and help rescue one its great protagonists from the shadows of obscurity.  After all, the future may be a sea of possibilities, but the past is definitely not.  Especially in the well-publicized field of pop music, such finds are rare, Nick Drake and Arthur Lee being a few that come to mind in the Anglo-American mainstream of pop music.  Within the ample hidden folds of world music the harvest may be a bit greater, as many long gone old-timers are found, revived, and brought back up to the surface for fresh air and ultimate justice.  Examples of this might be Boubacar Traore’ of Mali or any of the Buena Vista Social club members.  Others of course met crueler fates and survive only through their music, never knowing that they found a posthumous following in the west.  Ros Sreysothea and Sinn Sisamouth of Kampuchea are good examples of that.

Meet Joni Haastrup from Nigeria.  His band MonoMono was one of the defining acts of a generation that included a much better known Fela Kuti, with whom he collaborated and competed in the 70’s.  Now three of his albums from that era have been re-issued and made available to a new generation.  Like Fela, Joni too did most of his songs in English, ostensibly to gain an overseas audience, but don’t underestimate the need for the broadest possible lingua franca in a country of over five hundred languages.  But Joni was never the attention-grabbing superstar in his own right, shining instead as a vocalist and keyboard player in an ensemble setting, first with O.J. Ekemode, and then Ginger Baker’s Air Force, before forming his own band MonoMono.  His lyrics are always upbeat and empowering, shades of another young man from across the sea, also making the rounds in London at about the same time in the early 70’s.  Of course, the ‘rush for Africa’ didn’t really begin until Bob Marley hit #1 in the charts, scooping up Fela and King Sunny in its net, while Joni had to wait… until now.

“Give the Beggar a Chance” was originally released in 1972, and it reflects much of what had occurred in Anglo-American rock by this time, especially a wild-ass psychedelic organ derived straight from the 60’s via The Doors, and a clean jazz guitar laid down in light hot licks.  But the vocals predominate, to generally good effect.  In the title song, lyrics like “what do you need from a beggar?.. give him a chance to blow your mind” exemplify much of Haastrup’s ethos, his love of common people and constant exhortations to forge on and forge ahead.  “The World Might Fall Over” even features a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins- like vocal, reminding us that his voice defined him as much as his keyboards.  His lyrics were consistently upbeat, but not always bold.  ‘Lida Lou’ was a soul number that could have been right out of any 60’s American soul music playbook, if not playlist- “she was so good to me… I’ll never forget her… she was called ‘Lida Lou.”  But maybe my favorite song on the entire album is the final number, titled ‘Kenimania’, an organ and guitar instrumental that would do Booker T proud.

1974 saw the release of ‘The Dawn of Awareness’ and an advance in the steadily-evolving progression of Joni and Monomono’s sound.  The thick psychedelic organ is now given over to a cleaner tighter keyboard style while guitars take over much of the experimental chores, at least two of them in fact, clean precise jazz licks dueling with fuzz tone power chords, triangulated sonically with an up-front saxophone and percussion that increasingly jumps up off the back line to assume a more prominent place in the mix.  “Plain Fighting” is maybe the best example of this in the lot, singing “don’t ever let yourself feel so downcast…your life is exactly what you make it.”  ‘Awareness Is Wot You Need’ opens with a nice flute solo and continues in the same vein, “Awareness is what you need… people refuse to see the truth… you don’t know what you are inside.”  

The third album of the trilogy ‘Wake Up Your Mind,’ released in 1978, finds Joni back in London and going it solo.  While America has gone to disco by this time, Joni moves his sound closer to Fela’s successful Afro-Beat while maintaining his own lyrical similarity to Bob Marley’s successful formula.  The opening song ‘Free My People’ explains this well in a opening rap, then continues on with lyrics like, “give us unity, give us peace of mind… we need peace and love all over the world.”  The title song keeps it up with, “We have gold, we have silver, we have every thing… we have to open up our minds so we can get back our land.”  ‘Champions & Superstars’ is an ode to soccer stars and ‘Do The Funkro’ is a worthy attempt at disco, but Joni is best is his comfort zone, closing the set with  “Watch Out…heaven is gonna fall… people get yourself together.”  He’s got a point, you’ll have to admit.  At the very least Joni Haastrup is an interesting and highly listenable footnote to the 1970’s and the history of world music, not unlike Mamadou or Boubacar or Eliades or Omara or any one of a hundred other undersung heroes.  He may even be a lost master.  Either way, he’s worth a listen.  All three albums have been re-issued by Tummy Touch/Soundway and are available in all formats.  Hardie K says check it out.

C. J. CHENIER’S ‘CAN’T SIT DOWN’- ZYDECO LIVES!

The first time I saw Clifton Chenier play was at Antone’s blues club in Austin, TX in 1975, back when it used to be down on Sixth Street, back in the ‘cosmic cowboy’ days, back when a plate of BBQ out on Burnside Road would set you back a cool $3, more than the minimum wage btw.  It was a revelation, though, the zydeco music, that is, named after the lowly snap bean, staple food ‘down there’.  This was something neither country nor blues, but somehow somewhere in the middle, with a detour through N’awlins, where it picked up a whiff of the French and a flair for funk.  Still it was something completely different, closest in genre to the Cajun music of the era, but not really, not exactly.  Something entirely new had been born, and this was the man who’d midwifed it, the Bob Marley, the Chuck Berry, the Leadbelly of zydeco.  It was being refined and defined and expanded and expounded while I sat there watching and listening.  The only question was: What next? 


When Clifton died in 1987, would zydeco die with it, like so many other sub-genres?  Enter C. J. Chenier, hot on the heels of his father’s success, even taking over his father’s band upon his death, and automatically inheriting much of his success.  But that was the ‘90’s; what about now?  Fast-forward to the present and much water has passed under the bridge, the old Mississippi River Bridge at Vicksburg.  Zydeco’s changed, with Clifton long gone, and a succession of pretenders to his throne having already given their best, a list with names as illustrious as their music- Buckwheat, Queen Ida, Rockin’s Sidney and Dopsie, and many others, not just in southwest Louisiana, but also on the West Coast and even in Europe.  And of course, the recording industry has undergone a near-collapse, leaving live performance the only constant in a rapidly-changing music scene.  But the best news of all is that C. J. Chenier has gone back into the studio and done an entirely new album in one swift session.


C. J. Chenier’s new album is called ‘Can’t Sit Down’, and while it may not be the “second coming” of zydeco, it’s pretty darn good.  Of course, the ‘boogie factor’ is primary, and that’s present in full force, but there’s more than that.  Lately zydeco has become more and more a close cousin to Tex-Mex, not surprising considering their geographic proximity in southeast Texas, and their mutual love of that German import for all things polkaic, the accordion.  This album changes all that, moving it back toward its original blues roots.  This album starts out with the title song, a rockin’ number by long gone daddy Clifton, complete with killer guitar solo, the signature style for modern blues-rock, and waving a flag for what’s to come.  ‘Baby Please Don't Go’ by Joe Williams is nothing but wailin’ gutter blues, accordion taking the parts normally assigned to guitar.  Then things get really interesting, the reason I wanted to listen to this album in the first place- ready for this?  How about ‘Clap Hands’ by Tom Waits?  Now I’m not a TW freak, but I do like this song a lot, so anxiously awaited a listen.  Expecting something approximating Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, I was disappointed at first, but upon re-listen… no, CJ got it right, nailing it with a 20 oz. claw hammer.


At clean-up position in the lineup, ‘Ridin' With Uncle Cleveland’ is probably CJ’s best self-penned song on the collection, a credit shared with Denise LaBrie, sweet and slow and soulful.  Here CJ references his father’s brother and frottoir washboarder par excellence, he and his ever-present bottle of Crown Royale, out on the town.  ‘Red Shack Zydeco’, a rockin’ instrumental, kicks the tempo back up again, coincidentally the name of the studio the album was recorded in, and something of an exercise in zydeco fundamentals, complete with guitar solo.  ‘Trouble in Mind’ by Richard M. Jones, has a slick bluesy urban groove, and then CJ covers dad’s classic ‘Hot Tamale Baby’.  ‘Dusty Road’ by John Lee Hooker continues the blues theme, and CJ pays tribute to his influences with a cover of arguably the first zydeco song ever, ‘Paper in My Shoe’ by Boozoo Chavis.


My only mild complaint of CJ, and zydeco in general, is ironically CJ’s own complaint back in the days when he was a music student at university while Dad was rockin’ the honky-tonks: sometimes it all sounds too similar, a complaint that could also be lodged against many other of the smaller genres, including blues, jazz, even country.  It’s no surprise then that they often cover rock and pop hits, even to this day, as this is where much of modern music’s creativity lies.  Blues’ inability to do so has bequeathed it a lower status over the years.  Novelty sells- that’s the first law of business.  Not surprisingly some of the juiciest nuggets on this album are loaners from other genres.  Surprisingly blues is often the loan of choice.  That’s the way it should be, the way it was always intended.  The results are good.  The album is called ‘Can’t Sit Down’ by CJ Chenier, out now on World Village Records.  Check it out… standing up.

Summer’s not over yet, Best of the Fests yet to come- Electronicaboriginal, maybe?

When you think of music festivals, in the US at least, you probably think of Coachella or Lollapalooza, maybe Bonnaroo, all of which boast of daily attendance numbers well into five figures, with overall totals into six.  This pales in comparison with many of those in Europe, though, at least half a dozen of which show numbers well above that, with Glastonbury UK topping the list at some 175, 000 souls per day.  Of course ‘Hardly Strictly Bluegrass’ festival in San Francisco this month might have that many if anybody bothered to count.  It being a free festival, the only numbers are from the crowd controllers, i.e. police estimates.  Nevertheless, Europe has so many festivals- in an area half the size of the US with twice the population- that it becomes something of a Mecca for many US bands looking to make hay while the sun shines.  This leaves US fests to concentrate more on, how do you say, the ‘indie’ groups?  Yes, with the exception of Bogota’s major festival, you would recognize the names of many, if not most, of the acts at the biggest festivals worldwide.  We’re the jugglers and the clowns.

If you’re looking for ‘world music’ fests- (sound of loooong needle scratch on vinyl LP)- the selection goes way down way fast.  Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD festivals set the standard worldwide, with long-running events in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and elsewhere subject to local funding, Dubai being one of the newer more interesting offerings.   Here stateside it’s pretty grim for the most part.  We create most of the world’s music, remember, along with the UK, so there’s not much initiative to look elsewhere.  ‘World music’ itself- music of other languages, cultures, and traditions besides the predominant Anglo one- come largely from the ex-pat African and Latino communities in our largest cities, and France, in addition to major ‘emerging countries’ themselves, such as India, Brazil, and Mexico.  People gotta’ eat.  Besides that the best music in the world today probably comes from tiny remote impoverished Islamic Mali, the landlocked heart of West Africa, the jigsaw puzzle piece linking African communities black and semitic, woodlands and desert.  

!Globalquerque!, in (almost) equally remote and scenic Albuquerque, NM is one of the best world music festivals in the US.  This year’s festival takes place on 9/16-17 and features such top world music acts as Los Amigos Invisibles, Cedric Watson, the inimitable Buffy Saint-Marie, and many others, google ‘em.  The overlapping World Music Festival in Chicago hasn’t released their schedule yet, but usually shares some of the same bookings, convenient if you don’t happen to live in the greater Albuquerque metropolitan area.  Other than that, Francophone-oriented Festival Louisiane in Lafayette, LA simultaneous with the jazz fest in N’awlins in April is by far the best… unless you count the entire summer in LA. 

‘World music’ is to be found in North America, too, of course.  Buffy Sainte-Marie is a Cree from Canada, and Andrew Thomas, also performing at !Globalquerque!, is a Dine’ (Navajo).  When you think of Native American music, what do you usually think of, maybe the sound of a lonely flute echoing over the vast expanses of the Grand Canyon, perhaps best exemplified by Carlos Nakai?  I like that, too, but ‘Indian’ music is much more than that, almost anything imaginable, actually.  Native American music is not limited to the American Southwest, either, of course, nor does it stop at the two borders.  In addition to Buffy Sainte-Marie, there are many others, both north and south.  They’ve got shows for that now, too, in the spirit of SXSW and NXNE, specifically to showcase that talent and open them up to increased opportunities.  

One of the newer showcases is the Aboriginal Music Week in Winnipeg, Manitoba, November 1-6, which should be diverse and good.  The show will include the spacey Indie vibes of World Hood and the Metis fiddle of John Arcand.  Then there’s the hip-hop of Winnipeg’s Most and Derek Miller’s roots-rock.  Leela Gilday’s introspective folk-rock offerings are as good as any singer-songwriter in the business today, and the Electric Powwow electronica mind-bumfuggle of A Tribe Called Red simply has to be seen- and heard- to be believed.  Check ‘em out.

Then there’s LA, which is something of a giant festival all summer… if you know where to go.  I haven’t been out as much as usual this year, but still managed to catch Debo from Ethiopia, Bombino from Niger, and others, while missing far more than that simply because of scheduling conflicts or because I’d already seen them.  Best part?  It’s all free…  So, if I achieve escape velocity to actually get out of the crib this weekend, I guesss I’ll just have to content myself with maybe Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loka at LACMA tonight or maybe Quetzal and Conjunto los Pochos down at Celebracion Mexicana in Macarthur Park on tomorrow, or possibly Pete Escovedo at Rum & Humble (yeah) in the courtyard at Hollywood & Highland on Tuesday.  Then there’s Ernie Watts at the Farmers’ Market next Thursday.  Damn!  That’s as many shows as I’ve been to all summer!  I used to do that in a single night.  I’m younger than that now.  C U there.  Drive carefully.     

Addis Acoustic Project’s Tewesta, “Remembrance”- Eat it with the Fingers

I don’t remember if I went to Ethiopia first or listened to the album Ethiopiques first- the two events were more or less simultaneous- but my first impression was that here was some really wild really weird stuff, nice but in a curious way. My second impression was that this was not so different from what I was hearing on the buses- like maybe an earlier version- tripping through the Ethiopian outback from Addis to Bahir Dar or Gonder- the Selam bus, that is (don’t even think about the others, at least not from the Mercato at 5am). The music is hard to describe and inquiries about it are usually handled best by responses like, “Here, you take a listen.” It’s something like jazz, with healthy doses of psychedelia, Rai, and Afro-beat… fun-kee, all wrapped up in one big plate of injera bread. Now try to imagine an unplugged acoustic version of that same music, and you’ll have to listen to Addis Acoustic Project’s Tewesta “Remembrance”, out next week on the World Village label.

Now Ethiopia is one of the few countries in the world whose culture is truly autochthonous. Despite the waves of peoples who have passed through or stayed on since the origin of homo sapiens sapiens, that which is Ethiopian was pretty much created right there, and direct foreign influences are few. That doesn’t make description any easier of course. It’s African, but not THAT African. It’s Semitic, but not THAT Semitic. It’s Christian, but not THAT Christian. Truth be told, Ethiopia is no one distinct thing, but an amalgamation, a collection, all gathered up within borders… more or less. The separate countries of Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan all share certain characteristics with their neighbors across the border, just to complicate matters, it seems sometimes. Amharic is the ‘working language’ of Ethiopia, but spoken as first language by little more than half of it, and Arabic would be more useful in much of it.

All of this concoction is reflected in the cacophony of the music, loosely held together by a common thread of musical history and culture and a desire for sonic nourishment. ‘Selam Yihoun Lehoulachin’ is the album's opening song and something of a sleeper, combining clarinet and mandolin with various forms of percussion to create a hypnotic trancelike lullabye. ‘Ambassel’ kicks up the tempo a notch with drums and accordion, pretty much setting the standard for what’s to come sonically. ‘Almaz YeHarrarwa’ gives the lead over to clarinet, alternating musical dialog with mandolin and percussion. ‘Ante Timeta Ene’ betrays an Italian influence, and you might be forgiven for thinking you were on a gondola in Venice if you happened to snooze.

It’s time to wake up with ‘Fikir Ayarejim’ (Love is Eternal) one of the album’s best songs and once a popular hit in its own right. ‘Etitu Beredegn’ ups the ante nicely, adding a dramatic touch to what was previously a certain sonic symmetry. Now you might imagine you’re in the middle of some whodunit, film noir, where everyone thinks the other has something to hide, each as he’s hiding something himself. ‘Anchim Ende Lela’ slows things down a bit again, getting into long low clarinettic grooves interwoven with percussion and mandolin that suggests nothing so much as old movies and old times. ‘Mashena’ continues in a similar vein, albeit more on the side of mandolins and choruses calling-and-responding across the field, across the aisle, across the centuries. This is nothing so much as visual music, music to free your imagination.

Once the tone and tenor is established, there are no great surprises from song to song. The great surprise is the album itself. Where did such a unique form of music derive from? Maybe if you explained the concept of jazz to a group of Ethiopian musicians and asked them to play what they imagine that to be, then this is what you’d get. I don’t know. I like it the same way that I like jazz, just let it play and imagine visual scenarios to accompany. There are no hooks or hangers, and few vocals even. Still it has a compelling quality tht makes me want to listen to it again. Of course, I’m attaching scenes from Ethiopia to it while I listen, so maybe that’s cheating. So go eat some wots with injera, then come back and put this on. If you liked Ethiopiques, then chances are you’ll like this, too. If you didn’t like Ethiopiques, then you should still try this, especially if you like jazz… and not so much funk. If you’ve never tried either, then start right here, tenderfoot, times a-wasting. Savor the flavor. That’s Addis Acoustic Project’s Tewesta - “Remembrance” out Aug. 9 on World Village. Check it out.