Omara Moctar, left, and Ilias Mohamed Alhassen of Bombino at Apollo Theater, New York, on March 26.
The European world-music-festival season is in full swing as bands head to stages across the continent, while at the same time, the festival circuits in North America and Japan are also busy as people take advantage of the long days of summer to get out and enjoy some music.
Bangkok favourites the Paradise Bangkok International Molam Band are about to make their debut at the famous Glastonbury festival (making them, I believe, just the second band from Thailand to play at the prestigious festival). The band was recently nominated for Songlines magazine’s World Music Award (Best Band in Asia) but was edged out by Indian guitar wizard Debishish Bhattacharya. Reports suggest they’re playing more gigs than the Clash did in the US, and that European festivalgoers are learning to dance “Isan-style”.
Meanwhile, record labels have been busy releasing new albums for the summer season and some of the most popular are listed in the European Broadcast Union’s World Music Top 20 Chart for June 2016 (by radio play in 25 European countries).
Riding high on the charts is the much-talked-about Bombino, a fantastic Tamashek (Toureg) guitarist from Niger who announced his arrival on the international scene with Nomad (Sublime Frequencies) in 2013. Like the guitarists in the most popular Tamashek band, Tinariwen, his mesmerising fingerpicking style of play comes from traditional instruments like the ngoni (lute) and the imzad (one-string fiddle), with a heavy dose of electric guitar from the likes of Jimi Hendrix (a real guitar icon in Northern Mali and Niger). The late Ali Farka Toure brought to international audiences the guitar playing of Northern Mali, but it was perhaps Zani Diabate (of the famed Super Djata Band) who first unleashed a Hendrix-influenced guitar style in the region (and he was known as the “Hendrix of Mali”). Bombino is carrying on these traditions, and his new album is well worth checking out.
At number two on the chart more desert-inspired music, this time from the Western Sahara, the album Abbar El Hamada by the female singer Aziza Brahim, whose understated and plaintive style is in contrast to the guitar pyrotechnics of Bombino.
African musicians have also been busy recording with artists from different musical cultures, and the most interesting on the chart is the collaboration between Konono No.1, masters of Afro-electro music played on found electronics and DIY instruments (for more on them, check out the Congotronics CD series with fellow electro-mashers the Kasia All Stars) and Angolan star Batida (aka Pedro Coquenão) in the latter’s Lisbon studio. If you like musical-boundary-breakers, this one is for you.
Another collaboration worth looking into is by Ethiopian singer Gabriella Ghermandi, whose work has now evolved into a kind of jazz fusion with Italian musicians. The African contingent on the charts also includes some fascinating music from Ghana, on This Is Kologo Power. The compilation features musicians playing a double-stringed instrument called the kologo. I’d never heard of it before but the tracks I’ve heard so far are fascinating.
Nothing much from Asia or South America (only Brazil features, with pop princess Ceu), but European releases, especially from Finland, Italy and Spain, are well-represented. Flying highest is an album of ever-popular Hungarian music from the pacy violin of Lajko Felix that features all kinds of Romanian, Hungarian and Romani music, all played at impossibly fast tempos.
Finland is the best-represented country on this chart, and while that may surprise some, Finland does have an active folk-music culture, for instance the music of the Sami people in Northern Finland, and Finns are well known for their love of styles like the tango. One Finnish musician even recorded a whole album of Elvis Presley songs in Latin.
Finnish musicians are also up for some experimentation. In Strange Lands is a weird and wonderful collaboration between Finnish musician Sampo Lassilia Narinkka and klezmer musicians. Although he’s a fine double-bass player, he also tries his hand at playing an egg slicer, a rubber boot, a garden rake, patent shoes and even books (really). With fellow hybrid-makers Alaksi Santuvuori (viola) and Harri Kuusijäarvi (accordion), this is a collection that not only surprises musically, but also narrates stories from people’s lives. Recommended for those looking for something different.
EBU’s World Music Charts Europe for June 2016
1. Azel (Partisan Records) by Bombino (Niger)
2. Abbar El Hamada (Glitterbeat) by Aziza Brahim (Western Sahara/Spain)
3. Most Jöttem (Fono) by Lajko Felix (Hungary/Serbia)
4. Sound City (Finisterre) by Stefano Saletti & Banda Ikona (Italy)
5. Konono No.1 Meets Batida (Crammed) by Konono No.1 (Congo/Portugal)
6. Monistic Theory (Cumbancha) by Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate (USA/Guinea)
7. Tropix (Six Degrees) by Ceu (Brazil)
8. Mezcla (Glitterbeat) by M.A.K.U. Soundsystem (USA/Various)
9. Timo Alakotila & Piano (Akero) by Timo Alakotila (Finland)
10. Né So (Nonesuch) by Rokia Traoré (Mali)
11. Aman Katerina – A Tribute To Panayiotis Toundas (Protasis Art) by Katerina Tsiridou (Greece)
12. Every Song Has Its End (Glitterbeat) by Various Artists (Mali)
13. This Is Kologo Power (Makkum Rec.) by Various Artists (Ghana)
14. Logos (Act) by Gerardo Nunez & Ulf Wakenius (Spain/Sweden)
15. In Strange Lands – Vierailla Mailla (Narinkaattori Records) by Sampo Lassila Narinkka (Finland)
16. Ethiopia – Celebrating Emperor Tewodros Ii (Arc) by Gabriella Ghermandi (Ethiopia/Italy)
17. Dvojka (Glitterbeat) by Damir Imamovic’s Sevdah Takht (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
18. Emanuel (Temps Oy) by Arja Kastinen (Finland)
19. Opus (Westpark Music) by Afenginn (Denmark)
20. Miratge (Taller De Musics) by Rumbamazigha (Spain)
Azel album cover.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.