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FEATURE
ALBUMS
PAST
MONTHS
All
reviews by Cal Koat
Check out other 2004 Album Reviews
 
NOVEMBER REVIEWS
Worldbeat
Chart Toppers
 Los
Amigos Invisibles - The
Venezuelan Zinga Son Vol.1 (Luaka
Bop) -
Los Amigos Invisibles are
six friends who in 1991, set
out to conquer the club
scene in Caracas,
Venezuela. Their mission was
to add some fun to mix along
with disco, funk and a
sprinkling of Latin spice,
adding their mix to the
mobile party scene in
Caracas. ‘Party’ is the
operative word for their mix
of Latin, modern beats and
cheesy disco. They describe
themselves as "a journey
deep into the pants of
rhythm." Indeed, The
Amigos have earned a
reputation for their raging
hormones and good-natured
goofiness but they back it
up with some seriously
groovy playing. The new
album may be called the
Venezuelan Zinga Son Vol.1
but it's more like another
sortie in their continuing
mission.Longtime fans
can comfortably pick up
where they last left it with
their invisible friends.
 Tanya
Stephens - Gangsta
Blues (VP
Records)
-
Tanya Stephens is motivated
to make her mark in the
male-dominated world of
dancehall reggae. In her
words, “Sean Paul might have
unlocked the door for
dancehall but each artist
still has to knock for
themselves.” Tanya did a lot
of knocking since returning
to Jamaica after a three
year sojourn
in Sweden. The
31 year old, mother of one
admits that once back in her
island homeland she,
“pestered everybody for new
riddims” until she found a
willing collaborator in
producer Andrew Henton.The
resulting new album is
called Gangsta Blues, but
Tanya’s quick to emphasize
she’s no gangsta. She chose
that title because in
her songs she talks about
“the same kind of everyday
struggles often sung about
in the blues”. And, it's
gangsta because she “isn’t
sitting around whining and
crying about her problems
either.” Tanya is empowering
dancehall’s femmes with
Gangsta Blues as a killer
role model. She got her
hands on some great riddims
that run from old school
roots to pulsing
electronic-driven dancehall
beats.
She's also got a way
with the words too ...
insightful lyrics instead of
booty rhymes and a
distinctive delivery that
enunciates clearly so her
message is heard.
 Ely
Guerra - Sweet
& Sour, Hot y Spicy (Higher
Octave) -
When divas Latinas like
Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and
Paulina Rubio are dotting
the charts with their sugary
pop, it’s refreshing to hear
someone like Ely Guerra
El-ee GARE-ah making
some noise. She left her
home in Mexico City at 15 to
pursue music full-time,
inheriting a love for the
seductive sounds of Bossa
Nova from her mother.After
taking a break to study
English at Evergreen State
College in Olympia,
Washington, Ely decided to
turn up the heat on her
career and her sound.True to
the title of her new
release, Sweet & Sour, Hot Y
Spicy, Ely’s adds an
alternative rock edge to the
Latin pulse. Combined with a
bold and brassy persona,
she’s taking her music from
sensuous to sizzling. The
disc is divided like an old
LP with a Sweet & Sour side
and a Hot y Spicy side. My
taste leans toward to the
crunchy guitars on the Sweet
& Sour side. I might just go
elsewhere to get something
Hot y Spicy. But, it's kinda nice
to have them both on the
same menu.
 K-Os - Joyful
Rebellion (EMI) -
When you throw out the old
rules of hip hop; chaos
rules supreme. Canada’s
Kevin Brereton, aka K-Os is
helping rap mature beyond
juvenile indulgence into the
awareness of adulthood. He’s
even expanding its musical
boundaries, infusing the
spoken word with new flavors
of Latin, Jazz and Gospel.His
folks are devout Jehovah’s
Witnesses who emigrated to
Canada from Trinidad. Kevin
himself studied world
religion at Ottawa’s
Carleton University. He
remembers, “When I would
borrow the family car, if I
left any music with swearing
in it, my dad would throw it
out the window.” He lost
half his CD collection that
way. The new album, Joyful
Rebellion charts new
horizons for urban music,
smashing major stereotypes
along the way. It really is
breathtaking to hear
his conscious rhymes set to
everything from string
orchestra to jazz quartet to
flamenco guitar. But while
he reconstructs the beast he
never gives up on it. Old
school tracks like B-Boy
Stance show that despite his
new vision for the future of
hip hop, K-Os is still just
a B-Boy at heart.
 Daby Toure -
Diam (Real
World)
- Peter
Gabriel is blessed with the
gift of introduction and
global music fans are all
the richer for it. The
latest discovery by his Real
World label is a
singer/songwriter named Daby
Toure. His roots extend back
to Mali but his family has
spread to Senegal and
Mauritania where Daby was
raised soaking up the sounds
of a vibrant, cultural hub.
Through pirated cassettes he
was seduced by the western
influences of The Police,
Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder
and Michael Jackson. Like so
many West African musicians
before him, Daby fled the
instability of the region to
pursue his career in Paris.
Diam is a very delicate
and personal album, like a
photo in your wallet. The
image is small but the
impact to the owner is
life-shaping. You can
just tell by listening.
What's astonishing about
Diam are the dubby atmospheres Daby
sneaks into the soft and
simple acoustic-based tracks. And,
his voice? It may remind you
of someone else Peter
Gabriel introduced you to
many years a go, Youssou N'
Dour.
Watch
this space for fresh global
reviews next month!
OCTOBER REVIEWS
 Daara
J - Boomerang
(Wrasse
Records) - As
a music genre, hip hop is
a juvenile, more accurately,
it's still in its
infancy. But Senegalese rappers,
Daara J offer a tantalizing
glimpse of what a sophisticated
and credible musical force hip
hop may soon become.The trio of
N'Django D, Aladji Man and Faada
Freddy part company with
ordinary North American urban
fare right from the get-go. "In
our music," they say, "the
melody is always the starting
point". And, Daara J's melodies
spring from the rich traditions
of Zulu music and Mandingo
tradition. On Boomerang they add
to their own formidable talents
with the incredible voices of
Rokia Traore and China.The trio
writes in several different
languages giving their raps
a refreshing cadence that sounds
more like poetry and less like a
quarterback barking signals
before a play (as is the
case with the majority of North
American urban artists). And
before any wannabe bangers from
the 'burbs diss Daara J for
taking the tough talk out of hip
hop, nothing could be farther
from the truth!. This is music
from the hard streets of
Dakar.On Boomerang, they deal
with real issues of greed and
development, exploitation and
abandonment. Back at cha like a
boomerang, Daara J!
 Fito
Blanko - Higher
Level (MRP)
- Like
Dancehall before it, Reggaeton
(pronounced: reggae-tone) is a
growing wave of global flavored
influence permeating urban
music. This is a potent blend
with all of hip hop's street 'tude,
all of salsa's spice and all of
reggae's heavy drop beat. Fito
Blanko is a young Panamanian
from Montreal who is taking
reggaeton to a 'Higher Level' as
the name of his new album would
suggest. What makes this
collection of songs so great is
Fito's keen awareness of where
all the musical elements come
from. And there's a lot of them.
The liner notes are worth the
price of admission to this disc
alone. He takes the time to
explain the wild mash of styles
each track delivers from Cuban
Timba with Reggaeton, to Son/Hip
Hop to Vultron (Panamanian
lyricism) over Jamaican
riddims.Credit must also be
given to Fito's producer and
collaborator on the project,
Peruvian-born Keith Kanashiro (aka Sensei)
who wrote much of the music, but
regardless of who gets the
props, Higher Level is highly
recommended.
Twelve Girls Band - Eastern
Energy (EMI) - There
are concerts and then there are
'shows'. When I saw the Twelve
Girls Band perform at the Moore
Theatre in Seattle, it was a
real 'show' like Riverdance,
Barrage or Stomp or any
other off-Broadway musical
production. It's what should be
expected though when you start
with a novel concept: 12
beautiful girls from mainland
China playing traditional
instruments (erhu in front - a
two string Chinese violin, pipa
in the centre - a finger-picked
Chinese banjo and a battery of
gu zheng - a plucked horizontal
harp in back with various exotic
flutes and dulcimers thrown in)
playing very untraditional
western music for the most part.
For the uninitiated to
Chinese music, the girls offer
their renditions of Coldplay's
'Clocks', Riverdance composer
Bill Whelan's 'Reel Around The
Sun' and even a surreal
reworking of Beethoven's 5th.
Not all of it translates well
but the Far Eastern flavored
material is engaging when
its powered by such a large (but
petite) ensemble. And, it all
goes over big in America where
their tour was gobbled up like
dim sum. Wisely, the disc
'Eastern Energy' gives consumers
a CD and companion DVD for
the full effect. The Twelve
Girls would do boffo box office
in Vegas. It's the kind of
'show' that would go well with
happy hour and one buck shrimp
cocktails.After all, Celine has
to take a break one of these
days ...
 Wyclef
Jean - Welcome
To Haiti Creole 101 (BMG) - I
am constantly amazed by the
resilience of the Haitian
people. Haiti has been plagued
by political violence for much
of its history and recently
Hurricane Jeanne visited a new
wave of death and destruction on
the beleaguered island nation.
It all should make Haiti's
celebration of 200 years of
independence from slavery (the
first Black Republic to do so)
bitter sweet at best. But
there's no more joyous and
pride-filled music on the planet
than the Creole beats of Konpa,
Zouk and Rara, the sounds that
buoy the hearts of the Haitian
people. Haitian son and Fugee
founder, Wyclef Jean came home
with a celebration in hand and
on disc, "Welcome To Haiti
Creole 101". It's an important
release, bringing the weight of
a globally recognized performer
to bear on a woefully overlooked
Caribbean tradition. And Creole
101 is just what it suggests, an
introductory course and the
first of many to come hopefully.
Wyclef has commited to starting
a label called Sak Pase (Creole
for "What's Up") which will
expose Haiti's message of
jubilation to all who want to
share its indominatable spirit.
 Fernanda
Cunha - Dois Coracoes (Independent)
- The
wonderfully wacky worldwide
web is really amazing. It
allows you to make the most
remarkable connections with
people from around the world
by virtue of simply hanging
your shingle in the windows
for Microsoft. Fernanda Cunha
is a brilliant singer from Rio
de Janeiro who found us at
www.worldbeatcanada.com
and sent along a couple of her
albums. Dois Coracoes (Two
Hearts) is a gorgeous
realization of Brazilian
elegance.Fernanda has a
classic samba and bossa
delivery that's soft but with
trained strength and
foundation. Hers is a
substantial and versatile
voice reminiscent of the
late, great Elis Regina and
Joyce (two singers who first
caught my ear during my
introduction to Brazilian
rhythms). Fernanda finds
herself in distinguished
company on Dois Coracoes,
performing with composers
Johnny Alf and Sueli Costa.The
string and piano-based
jazz arrangements are
irresistible and worthy of
repeated late night listens. I
don't know if you'll find this
disc in North America but I'm
sure Fernanda wouldn't mind an
unexpected connection from
abroad asking for more
information. Visit
www.fernandacunha.com.br.
 Issa
Bagayogo - Tassoumakan (Six
Degrees) - A
remarkable thing happened
recently while conducting an
interview at the Commodore
Ballroom in Vancouver. As my
guest and I conversed
while seated on the edge of
the stage, the opening act
came out to sound check. He
positioned his kora (an
exquisite and ancient African
harp) near the microphone and
plucked a few notes only to
stop suddenly and take an
incoming call. The image is
something that could
only materialize in the 21st
century, a person holding a
kora in one hand and a cell
phone in the other. That
performer could have well been
Issa Bagayogo or 'Techno Issa'
as he's known to his Malian
musical friends. His
instrument is the 6 string
n'goni similar in form and
timbre to the kora with far
fewer strings. Many global
artists have attempted to
broach the traditional and the
technological but few as
seamlessly as Issa. As a
follow up to 'Timbuktu', his
ear opening debut release on
Six Degrees, Issa presents "Tassoumakan'
which means 'Voice Of Fire'.
It's a wonderful study in
contrasts: organic and
electronic, chilled
and engaging, blues and beats.
No one element of Issa's music
appears imposed upon the
other. All the compelling
sounds symmetrically orbit in
harmony around timeless
melodies and chants.
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