Related Sites:FANTCHA Criolinha (Tinder) 42852372For a country that consists of a bunch of stray islands with a land mass larger than Rhode Island and whose majority of 390,000 inhabitants live abroad, Cape Verde, off the West coast of Africa, has more than its fair share of dynamic and talented musicians. It's arid climate, hardscrabble economy and history as a slaver's outpost has not dampened the sweet voice of Fantcha, Cape Verde's latest artist.
Criolinha, which means beautiful girl from Cape Verde, could very well describe Fantcha, whose first U.S. release -- with its balmy sensibilities -- competes with the very best that comes from this windswept archipelago off Senegal. Fancha, who has recently moved to New York, may soon be popularizing her country's dance music in much the same way that her mentor, Cesaria Evora, has with the morna, a Creole-Portuguese blues.
There are two mornas on this cd with the first Sol ja' camba', by Amandio Cabral, one of Fantcha's favorite composers. This one song shows off her country's roots and the training given her by Evora during shared performances. Fancha then shifts effortlessly to rhythmic coladeiras with producers Paulino Vieira and Bau, both of whom have performed with Cesaria Evoria, arranging all the charts for a full orchestra. On this recording one can hear the range of the Cape Verdean experience in song, musical tempo and lyric as Fantcha's voice stretches out with irresistible rhythms, pop melodies and catchy hooks that make her a compelling force in a continent populated by male superstars.
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Related Site:RASHA SUDANIYAT SUDANIYAT (Intuition)3214
Forget for a moment that we may know little of Sudan and its 15-year-old civil war. Here is a cd by a Sudanese musician that is upbeat and promising. Rasha Sudaniyat gives us Afro-Cuban rhythms, Sudanese wedding songs, lullabies, Sufi meditations and reggae music -- all from a part of the world that blends Islam and black-African cultures. My favorites include the reggae-tinged Salib Fuadi (You Stole My Heart) with its melancholy air on top of an Afro-Cuban beat, and the rather restrained acoustic number, Nari (My Fire), with violins and guitar. Rasha's voice shimmers on this track as she sings the lyrics "Oh Allah, my own fire!," which resonate with strains of Radio Tarifa and Morrocan Sephardic groups from an earlier era.Drawing from folkloric compositions, Rasha enriches her arrangements by using the voices of the oud and accordian backed by a strong beat from a Sudanese big band. Call it Afro-Arabic music, or maybe even Sudanese folk-jazz: this is an exceptional effort by a singer, composer, and dleader whose talents speak highly of what a 26-year-old woman can accomplish in a part of the world where one million people are facing famine and the loss of their Nubian culture.
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Related Site:PATIENCE MUDEKA Tafadzwa (Zimbob ) Zim-9
If Zimbabwe pop music gives you a rush (it has that effect on me), listen to Tafadzwa, Patience Mudeka's solo debut, recorded in Illinois, USA and Harawe, Zimbabwe. Patience Mudeka is not only the latest pupil from the Thomas Mapfumo and Robson Banda School of Zimbabwean Chimurenga Dance Music, but also its first woman graduate. With superb backing by John Ngwandangwanda on guitar, Matthias Gaston on bass, and "in-the-pocket" drumming by Mutsa Mudeka, this disc will be a pleasurable addition to the "Z" section of your world beat collection.
Recording the first six tracks at the famous Shed Studios in Harawe, Mudeka, a former singer with the Blacks Unlimited (Mapfumos's backing band), is assisted by members of that
group as well as the master mbira (African thumb piano) laying of Ephat Mujuru. Although the mbira tends to get buried, the trance rhythms of the Chimurenga beat are unstoppable as Mudeka's voice competes in a kind of call and response with the band's back-up vocalists.
My favorite songs, Rova Ngoma and Matema Gore, were written by her grandmother, Mbuya Mudeka, to whom the recording is dedicated.The final three tracks were recorded with Patience's U.S. band, the Rufaro Mbira Band, giving us six tracks of Harawe commerical chimurenga pop sound and a rootsier American recording with more of the traditional mbira and hoshos (rattles). Either way, this recording is the latest to come out of Zimbob Records and may push Patience Mudeka onto the next African "Lilith" tour.
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The youthful exuberance found in the singing of Piruchi Apo Botupa
and her niece Palomas Loribo Apo, who call themselves
Hijas del Sol, on Kotto certainly belies the dreary accounts
written about their former homeland of 