Nov 3/05
More acoustic mbalax
Following aduna’s comment I went out at lunch at picked-up Cheikh Lô’s latest. I have to say that at first listen I wasn’t really impressed. Much of it sounded over-produced and featured some rather cliché ‘world music new millennium!’ chord progressions and instruments. I swear, whoever brought the Casio keyboard and wind chimes to Africa should be tried and jailed. I’m also a firm believer that you can’t just tack a little talking drum onto an otherwise unimpressive tune and make it great.
That said, I got home and gave the disc another couple listens because I really like Cheikh Lô, with a particular respect for the way he performs live. Also, while his last album, Bambay Gueej, wasn’t a masterwork, his first album, Né La Thiass, is a true classic and one of my favourite contemporary West African recordings.
With some good headphones on the production is often worth it and after a few listens I caught lots more of the background rhythms and other sounds going on in the music. I can now honestly say that there about four or five tracks I get a good kick out of, and this number certainly depasses what I need to like an album. So yeah, final verdict: give it a few listens before you decide, but definitely worth a buy especially if you’re into the acoustic mbalax scene out of Senegal.
The in-thing to do these days for West African musicians is to combine Senegalese music with sounds and instruments from the Middle East, South America and Asia. Cheikh Lô’s sitting on that bandwagon with Youssou, Thione Seck and the others, and came up with a couple interesting results. As I’ve been on a bit of a Brazilian binge lately (during my African music off-time) I thought I’d feature Lô’s track, Senegal-Brésil alongside my favourite tune to come out of Brazil by the great Jorge Ben.
ps- at the end of Lô’s track you’ll hear them chanting, “Sénégal, jamm rekk.” Jamm rekk translates literally into “peace, only” and is one of my favourite expressions in the Wolof language. Try it yourself: next time someone says to you, “hey man, how’s it going?” look them in the eye all serious-like and reply, “peace, only.”
Chiekh Lô - Sénégal-Brésil
Jorge Ben - Ponta de Lança Africano
November 4th, 2005 at 12:40 pm
The last Track “Ponta de Lança Africano” sounds very familliar to me … I am sure that I heard at a party several years ago. It was a “Latino” Party. I am pretty sure that the DJ played that song. I think I still have it on a tape that he recorded for me on one of this evenings. That song reminds me of an empty Club … so I (one of the view guests) and the stuff had nothing better to to than swing to the sound, dance and have one or the other Caipirina (for free)
… Very cool time …
OK this event was far from profitible, so it was stopped … but hence what a great time for us happy few.
Greetings from Hamburg
November 4th, 2005 at 7:50 pm
Cross linked you, Matt - great choice.
November 4th, 2005 at 11:27 pm
Just heard Lampa Fall in the record store this afternoon and left without buying.
There are a couple of songs in there that are worth listening too, if one can ignore the excess of overdubbing and - as you say - overproduction.
Has anyone heard the new Salif Keita?? The last one was a retour en force.
November 5th, 2005 at 3:58 am
i don’t know what “peace, only” means.
does it mean [how's it going?] “peace, [and] ONLY [peace]” ?
does it kind of mean that the person intends to cause nothing but peace in the world?
or the inverse, does it kind of mean that the person has thankfully been receiving nothing but peace from the world?
i really need a slight explanation because i’m curious about the actual connotations or implications (about attitude) of the expression.
i plan to use it anyway. but i’d like to know the social specifics when it’s used natively. i just don’t understand how the modifier “only” relates to the word peace, but i want to know. it’s not obvious to me.
DO TELL.
November 6th, 2005 at 2:17 am
Né La Thiass is truly indeed a classic album. It is also one of my favorites. A friend of mine had the opportunity to catch Chiekh Lô in Spain this past Summer, and she was mesmerized. Unfortunately I haven’t been lucky enough to witness Mr Lô doing his thing live.
November 23rd, 2005 at 1:47 pm
Justo one curiosity about Jorge Ben. He chamged his name about ten years ago to Jorge Benjor, because of numerology reasons. I think that he has a fabulous first fase (1964-1978). During this period, his albuns is astonishing. His work continous to be very good, but it is not the same. He still is a very popular artist in Brazil.
Take care
November 23rd, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Just one curiosity about Jorge Ben. He chamged his name about ten years ago to Jorge Benjor, because of numerology reasons. I think that he has a fabulous first fase (1964-1978). During this period, his albuns is astonishing. His work continous to be very good, but it is not the same. He still is a very popular artist in Brazil.
Take care
November 23rd, 2005 at 1:49 pm
Just one curiosity about Jorge Ben. He changed his name about ten years ago to Jorge Benjor, because of numerology reasons. I think that he has a fabulous first fase (1964-1978). During this period, his albuns is astonishing and very innovative. His work continous to be very good, but it is not the same. He still is a very popular artist in Brazil.
Take care
February 11th, 2006 at 5:07 pm
[...] Daby Baldy is from Senegal, though I have to confess I never heard about him while I lived there. The album’s liner notes claim that he has been “long celebrated at home,” but I’m not so sure he’s super popular locally. This is true for a lot of Senegalese artists, Youssou N’Dour excepted, who produce music that appeals to audiences outside of the country. People like Daby Balde, Cheikh Lô, Pape and Cheikh and others play acoustic mbalax and fula sounds that appeal more to world music enthusiasts in North America and Europe than to hip-hop and pop mbalax-hungry local youth. [...]
April 18th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Invasion - Display…
I’ve not heard a lot of soca music at all - maybe two or three tracks before this week, and as a result Invasion’s “Display” seems quite alien to me in many ways - the tempo is a lot faster……