Ever had that feeling that you need to see some other
people? I get that feeling about music every now and again, especially when I
flip on the radio and enter that vast sonic wasteland known as "American
pop/rap/hip-hop." At that point I seek an aural overseas adventure to see
what folks elsewhere are singing. Here are several journeys worth book and they
won't cost you more than a buck a track.
My first offering is the glorious Eva Salina and you're not actually leaving the USA at all to
experience the wonders of her Romani, Dutch, Jewish repertoire; she's a
Californian. On her latest, Lema Lema (Vogiton Records), she features Balkan and Romani (Gypsy) songs
from the repertoire of Serbia Romani legend Šaban Bajramović (1936-2008). If
you don't know his music, you're hardly alone on this hemisphere, but let's
just say it's the kind of mishmash you'd anticipate from traveling folk:
village folk songs, hot jazz, keening vocals, bright brass, and an air of
sauciness. And you'd better be an extraordinary singer to tackle this stuff, as
its demands on the larynx are not for the easily winded. Believe me when I say
that Ms. Salina is up to the challenge; hers is a voice for the ages. When she
takes on "Boza Limunada," a mildly naughty song of a man looking for
a fertile wife, Salina slams it with the brazenness of old-style Greek rebetika
singers (many of whom were also prostitutes). If you think she's a muscular
singer, wait until you get a load of the accordion (mostly by Peter Stan on this album). Salina is positively a brawny
imp on "Hovani Romni," the story of a cuckold drowning his horns in
booze. Her notes pulse out like she's a one-woman oompah-pah band. All of the
songs tend to have tough themes, but Salina is so gifted she can make a song
like "Koj Is Gola Roma" sound like a lyrical Italian folksong despite
the fact its male protagonist endures beatings. Salina said she wanted to fuse
lyricism with a splash of Bollywood–sounds weird, but works brilliantly! By
contrast, her take on "Pijanica" feels like a van driven by a Balkans
brass band dropped into a zocalo to jam with a mariachi ensemble. This is
easily one of the year's finest albums and that's not just my opinion–Ms.
Salina was recently the centerpiece of an NPR profile. No exaggeration is
needed when hurling accolades at Eva Salina. Listen for yourself.
Let's stay in the same cultural ballpark for a moment. Arsen Petrosyan is an Armenian-born duduk musician. The duduk is a double-reed flute in the oboe and shawm family, though
its sound is bolder and its tonal qualities more reminiscent of the clarinet.
Petrosyan's Charentsyan (CD Baby) is a nice introduction to Armenia's
national instrument. Much of the release can be described as mournful and
formal in tone, though there are a few departures. "Hazar Ernek" has
the vibe of a belly dance; "Javakki Shoror" casts impressions of a
raw village folk tune—especially the call-and-response interplay with other
instruments–though its hand percussion has similarities with Southeast Indian
arrangements. Petrosyan is obviously a talented musician, but whether you'll
fancy all nine tracks is a matter of individual taste. I'd recommend going to a
site like SoundCloud and sampling to see what strikes your fancy. Something
will.
Moken
is from Cameroon, but now lives in Atlanta. His debut, Chapters of My Life (Bantu Records) is a pan-African look
at his life thus far: from Africa to broke fashionista at a Detroit design
school to a working musician. It's an odd little release in many ways and
definitely not your average Afropop
recording. He counts among his influences Van Morrison, Nina Simone, and Manu
Dibango. It's hard to hear much Morrison on this record other than short rock
riffs every now and then, as on "Wiating for the Day," the sunniest
track in the collection, but Dibango and Simone are in evidence. Dibango is a
Cameroonian saxophonist famed for fusing jazz, funk, and folk–and Chapters of My Life certainly has that
vibe. "Ma Masse," for instance, is done in the style of a Senegalese mbalax, but in a more dramatic less
danceable style than most mbalax
offerings. Two songs, "Machine Man" and "Walkin Man"
reference Moken's impoverished student days when he occasionally lived in his
car. The second tune has a suitably robotic feel to mark a time in which his
car left him stranded 10 miles from his destination. You can definitely hear
Simone's influence in Moken, especially his preference for material that is
sultry, soulful, and meditative. As in the case of Petroysan, though, I'd
recommend you sample before you buy. My overall sense is that Chapters of My Life is an incomplete
project with filler and a few songs short of completion. There is promise here,
but the repertoire could use some work.
Rob Weir
thank you so much for this wonderful review!!! I must make one important correction, which is that the main accordionist on the record is the inimitable Peter Stan, and also Patrick Farrell plays some accordion and lots of farfisa organ on the record ;-) otherwise thank you very much, and hope to run into you someday!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction, Eva. One (of the many) curses of downloads is that they come to us with little or no production information. I inferred you as the accordionist from YouTube clips! Count me among those who think that MP3 downloads are a terrible thing to do to music and the profession. I made the update, though. Hope you make it to western MA one of these days. (We are closer to Hartford, CT than to Boston.)
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ReplyDeletei'd love to send you a hard copy! info at evasalina dot com with relevant information and i'll send one your way!
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