Jazz can be too complex for its own good and come off more
as a personal pursuit than something for mass consumption. But when it’s good,
it’s transportive. Turkish-born/Boston-based vocalist Nazan Nihal and pianist Utar
Artun are amazing in their own right, and when they join forces with world
musicians from places such as China, Iraq, Finland, the USA, and the Near East,
they are spectacular. Neotolian Song mixes Turkish song,
originals, and jazz in an ethereal West-meets-East brew of everything from
piano, cello, violin, guitar, and drums to Chinese flute and erhu (two-stringed fiddle) to Turkish ney (flute), oud (mandolin-like lute) and qunun
(zither). Nihal’s vocal range is so wide that on the title track her high notes
approach the pain threshold. By contrast, “Manastir T” is as delicate as a
glass figurine, and her take on an ancient melody in “Lydianic” is bird-like.
Thoughtful arrangements abound. The strings in “G + El Kuruttum” cry out like a
muezzin over Artun’s rain-like piano notes. “Pendulum” swings like its
namesake, with dancing vocals, pulsing instruments, and big cascades of piano;
“Rondo Afro Turca” mixes vocal thrums and scat with a tune reminiscent of
breezy Latin jazz; and “Degmen Benim” scurries with the suggestiveness of a
tune chasing itself. This is a triumphant release. ★★★★★
@nazannihal #utarartun
Do you want to dance? Ahmed
Janka Nabay fled the civil wars of Sierra Leone and now lives in the United
States, but he’s still the foremost modernizer of Bubu music, which began life as ritual witchcraft music for the
Temne peoples, but now beguiles in a different way; it’s played during Ramadan!
Nabay takes it to the party on Build Music. Although songs like
“Sabonay 2016” bear serious messages such as women’s empowerment and peace, the
instrumentation would be more at home in a discotheque. Traditional Bubu melodies use bamboo flutes and
blown metal pipes, but Nabay’s band mostly uses Casio keyboards. In fact, most
of the album consists of three or four repeated notes that sound as if they
could have been made on a child’s melodic. Add consistent beats and Nabay’s
voice, which is at turns growly, polished, or winsomely sexy and is backed by a
female chorus. “Santa Monica” is another that touches on weighty matters—his
harassment by local police—but has a sunny feel. Most of the album is even
lighter—“Bubu Dub” with its repeated lines “My baby loves to dance/she likes to
sing… all she does is jump and dance;” or the Caribbean-like “Stop Jealous”
with decidedly non-poetic lyrics such as: “Oh my baby, I really love you… Baby
I love you… I love… My baby I love you.” Okay, so don’t look for a Nobel
literature prize, but if you want to sweat and shake, this one will answer. ★★★
#bubugang
The world needs more folks like the dozen musicians in The Nile Project. Their new album Jinja
is a follow-up to 2013’s Aswan and
like it, seeks to unite and educate peoples who live in the eleven nations along
the 4,258-mile-long Nile. The group brings together musicians from Burundi,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda, sings in six languages,
harmonizes voices, and blends various lyres, harps, flutes, and guitar styles. The
sound is, at heart polyrhythmic and the percussion a complex marvel. That such
things happen amidst songs that at first listen seem simple is testament to the
musicianship. The harp on “Mulungi Munange” is so light that it evokes a
balalaika, but suddenly electric instruments intrude with a big bump and female
ensemble singing powers a piece in which the percussionists pound through,
across, and into the melody. Later a male voice is added, but it’s like a knife
slicing into the mix. The result is edgy, filled with nervous energy, and pop-like
in feel without being like any pop you’ve ever heard. All sorts of modes
emerge: the North Africa ambience of “Allah Bagy” with its trance-like and
praiseful lyricism; the improv horns of “Tenseo” with a dramatic male voice
that would be operatic were it not for its microtonal slides; the
kora/saxophone/guitar/vocal conversations in “Biwelewle” that create a hooky
melody; and the emotive vocals and muscular instrumentation of “Ya Abal Wuha.”
Another amazing piece is “Uruzi Nil,” which is quick-paced and scurrying and
its flute/electric mix reminiscent of Jethro Tull in places, yet is also jazzy
and free-spirited. Kahlil Gibran once said that, “Music is the language of the spirit. It
opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.” The Nile
Project is certainly doing its best to make that true. ★★★★★
@NileProject
#thenileproject
The term
"fusion" often fails to live up to the hype. In the case of
Toronto-based Rakkatak, though, it's
appropriated and appropriate. The
goal is to take Indian classical music, give it a contemporary twist, and knock
down a few barriers along the way. The music is built around the tabla playing
and occasional raga vocal scales of Anita Katakkar, and the dreamy bass of
Oriana Barbato. Two women fronting an Indian music ensemble is just the
start—Katakkar's heritage is Indian/Scottish/Canadian and Barbato is Chilean.
Featured sitar player Rex Van der Spuy is of South African and Indian
extraction and, when not manning the sitar, is a video game designer and
prolific tech author. Small Pieces, Rakkatak's third CD, is as advertised—music designed to lull you
into submission rather than impress through volume or showiness.
"Medley" fuses a hypnotic groove with a segued cover into The
Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" and, like all nine tracks, takes its time
in developing. Much Indian composition is built on the concept that music
should "color the mind." To that end, "Dreaming" is a
somnambulant stroll and "Thoughts of You" is drifty and
introspective. My favorite piece is "Rain After Fire," composed in
response to Western Canadian wildfires. Bass and tabla lurk in the background
with quiet drama, with the sitar evoking on again/off again showers that spurt,
drip, and fade to mist. Those who want a splash of loosely structured jazz
should sample "XYZ" with its atonal flirtations, or the creative
noodling of "Riffing on 9." ★★★★
#rakkatak
@rakkatak
#smallpieces
Rob Weir
Note: YouTube footage and album tracks often vary in presentation stye.
