Far too underappreciated and little known
Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 04/30/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It saddens me to see that the sales ranking of this disc is so low. It in no way reflects the power of this music, it only reflects the fact that this disc is not well-known.This is not Afro-pop or Worldbeat. This is not African music for the people who think that Graceland was excellent "African music". This is the real deal. The only aspect of this music that could be considered as having "Western influence" is just the fact that the music was recorded at all. I don't say this to hurt anyone's feelings, I just say it to make that clarification. American's generally think of "African music" as being just electric Afro-Pop. This is a much stronger and more powerful music. Traditional music. This is music for people and community, not for Billboard Charts.The American mainstream tends to only think of a handful of mainstream singers, and drumming, when it thinks of "African music", but that isn't even remotely a complete picture. What you have here is an ensemble of one-string fiddlers, vocalists, and rattles. The effect is hypnotic and invigorating all at the same time. Also, these are not Western violins with one string. These are fully African instruments, sort of larger cousins to the more famous njarka violin that Ali Farka Toure plays so well.Ghana is such a musically rich country. This cd, as well as Master Drummers of Dagbon Volumes 1 and 2 (all recorded by John M. Chernoff) should be required purchasing for anyone interested in any sort of West African music. I received this as a gift a couple months ago and have been in love with it ever since.This disc has some of the most kaleidoscopic music I own. This ensemble has a way of working into a groove, then one fiddler (or more) changes the way he is approaching that groove and it just changes the aural picture of the entire ensemble. On one hand, this is the essence of earth music.. community music... you can feel the energy of the community and culture that these people have created over hundreds of years. You can almost feel their soil between the toes of your bare feet. Yet on the other hand there is still almost a "symphonic Parliament" (Parliament the band, not the British political body) aspect to this music in the way that the pieces have movements and rhythmic shifts.I don't know how else to say it. You can change the sound of this music just by the way you listen to it. Focus here and it sounds one way, focus there and it sounds another way. Kaleidoscopic is really all I can say. There is always a new perspective from which to listen inside this fascinating music.West Africa has a huge body of excellent fiddle musics and this is most definitely one of the premiere recordings illustrating this. Sometimes I am able to intently focus on everything happening on this cd, and other times its ryhthms just float me off to daydream land. In a serious moment, George Carlin said that all people should be encouraged to just daydream for an hour everyday. This cd certainly puts me in that place on occasion. There is something about the texture of this music, the moderately ancient rhythms (just a couple-hundred-year-old tradition), and the incredible tone of these fiddles that just makes it supremely easy to transcend your own reality and get to that space where everything is just perfect."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1