"RIP 2008". Some of
the great musical figures who passed away during the year.
Most of the entries have links to video clips and/or
obituaries or background articles on the artists.
LIVE SHOWS:
Unfortunately, there were some periods during the
year where conflicts didn't allow me to catch all the shows I would
have liked, but it was a rich enough year that there was no shortage
of highlights:
Photos: click for larger image
Feb. 15: Hugh Masakela, The
Phoenix
This was the first Toronto show in several years by Masekela.
At 69, the energy and spirit is still there, and his presence
and authority are still powerful. This time, he brought a series
of artists from his label, the "Chissa All Stars" to share the
stage with him, notably powerful singer Sibongile Khumalo.
Mar. 1: Trio Joubran,
Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre
The three Joubran brothers from Jerusalem are the world's
only oud trio, but this description barely suggests the beauty
and intricacy of their music; watching them interact musically
is a joy; listening to the music is sublime. For this show, as on
their new CD, Majâz, they added a single percussionist which,
subtle as his added its sound was, added another dimension and
backing to
the brothers' music.
Banjoist Stone had travelled to Mali, exploring the West
African roots of his instrument; over the past couple of years
he began seriously collaborating with Malian griot/kora player
Mansa Sissoko, who now lives in Quebec City. Since their first public
performance locally (in the summer of 2007), their music has really jelled,
and the success of the music, and integration of banjo and kora
in their performances (and on the CD) is so effective it further
helps connect the "American" instrument to its African roots. This
show was
the CD release of Appalachia to Africa, which also featured
Malian ngoni master Bassekou Kouyaté.
Note: banjo great Béla Fleck is also
doing the same. He travelled to Africa, has performed with various
African artists, and in fact is doing some concerts in early 2009
with the Toumani Diabaté, generally considered the best kora player
in the world.
Jul. 2: Double-bill of the
year: Seckou Keita SKQ & Seun Kuti
Seckou Keita is a Senegalese griot and kora player, now
living in England whose music is deeply based in West African
traditions, but who is expanding its reach through his
multinational group (from Italy, Gambia and Egypt). Their
performance alone would have been a highlight of Harbourfront's
summer programming, but it was just the opener for Seun Kuti...
Kuti's 2007 show at the same
venue was a real eye (and ear)-opener, and was one of my
best-of-2007 picks. Amazingly, he was even better this year.
Performing with his father's (the late, legendary Fela Kuti)
band Egypt 80, he easily filled his father's giant shoes. While
he appears to channel Fela on stage, he takes possession of the
music himself, and rather than just copying Fela, he perhaps performs as
Fela (who died in 1997) might be doing if he was still here. A
blockbuster performance.
Astatke, known as "the father of
Ethio-jazz" was described by NOW magazine as being
"to Ethiogroove what Fela Kuti
is to Afrobeat". His importance and stature brought him a
deservedly huge ovation at the beginning of this show. I was not
the only one who somehow assumed the night would feature his
playing, backed by the Either/Orchestra, an American band
dedicated to playing classic Ethiopian grooves. However
unfortunately, the concert was indeed as it was officially
billed: "The Either/Orchestra with Mulatu Astatke". So
after he led the night in a few songs (especially those known to
Western audiences from the Broken Flowers soundtrack), he
reverted to a role as infrequently-heard sideman for the band.
I thought that the least they
could have done was to place him close to centre stage, and not
off to a corner of the stage. Nevertheless, it was a treat seeing and
hear this master play.
It's pretty hard to compare this event to any others in town
during any given year. How do you stack up an event that's free,
featuring 2 full days of great local and international African
musicians, performing on three stages, supplemented by African food,
crafts, sunshine and beer garden?
Highlights included:
Dobet G'nhaore from Ivory Coast; many
people I've talked to about her raved about her performance
as one of the most dynamic of the festival. Luckily she'll be back in April '09 at the Lula Lounge.
(top photo)
Fallou Dieng of Senegal closed out
Saturday night with great energy (from him and the
audience). (bottom photo)
Groupo Vocal Desandann: a beautiful acapella
Haitian-Cuban group who, unfortunately because of
out-of-town commitments, had to perform as the first act on
Sunday, to a much smaller audience than they deserved.
Many of the individual members of the
African Guitar Summit performed with their own bands: Donné
Roberts, Mighty Popo, and Theo Boyakye with a reunited
Nakupenda who played the first Afrofest.
Another AGS'er, Alpha Yaya Diallo with
Doura Barry, Naby Camara (also from the AGS) on balafon, and
dynamic dancer N'nato Camara.
The closing ceremony, which officially
was to be Cheka Dioubaté and Tape Diarra, but instead was a
huge and glorious West African jam.
Sep. 6: Movie/Concert twin
performance of the year: Youssou n'Dour
A fascinating documentary on the Senegalese superstar was
shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. (See film
notes below). That night, Toronto was treated to a free and
memorable concert by n'Dour at Yonge-Dundas Square. A great day.
I admit that I'd known his
work primarily in backing up other musicians like Ernest Ranglin,
and as the bandleader of the wonderful "Jamaica to Toronto"
project, so this show and the CD were a revelation to me. He's
one of this city's music treasures.
The show featured numerous
musicians, most notably Ranglin and former James Brown and Van
Morrison bandleader, Pee Wee Ellis, but I thought the real star
was Wilson's music, and his highly ambitious double CD, The
Peacemaker's Chauffeur. Read
Errol Nazareth's column for the background to the title and
the CD on this page of Wilson's website.
Always great masters:
Jun. 29: Salif Keita at the Toronto Jazz Festival (Concert
photos) Jul. 3:
Orchestra Baobab at Harbourfront Centre
Salif Keita
For those familiar with them,
the shows were as expected -- and that's saying a lot. These are
among the very greatest West African performers.
Videos:
Baobab
playing
"Nijaay" at the Malta Jazz Festival
Salif doing
"Folon" in Mali; a song he still performs solo, on acoustic
guitar
A heavenly musical month
Traditionally, June and July are the best months of the year for
this music, but this year featured
an amazingly rich month of music, with a remarkable number of
musical giants from various musical fields. It was striking
enough that I created
a page just
listing those highlights. I'm still impressed reading it
Some other great shows this year:
Chiwoniso
Feb. 8: SalsAfrica (Lula Lounge) The
debut of the Afro-Latin big band made up of some of
Toronto's top African and Latin musicians (Concert
photos)
Jul. 31: Kassav (Sound Academy). Zouk stars
for 30 years from Guadeloupe/Martinique
Sep. 14: Aster Aweke (Opera House) "The
Queen" celebrated Ethiopian New Year's. (Concert
photos)
Sep. 18: Chiwoniso (Lula Lounge): The
Zimbabwean/American singer is quickly becoming a star
following her Rebel Woman CD
Sep. 30: Vieux Farka Touré: Ali Farka's
son is becoming a great performer in his own right. He returned
to town following his sold-out 2007 Harbourfront show.
Dec. 14: The Campbell Brothers at Hugh's
Room. The "Sacred Steel" masters rocked the room.
Alas, as usual, my sample size (the number of CD's I
was able to acquire) was much too small to claim this list as any
type of "best" of the year, but they are (at the moment) my
favourites of those I did get this year. In no particular order:
A note about the
CD's. I could paste in links to Amazon for most of these, where you
could get CD details, hear 30 second clips, and I might get a bit of ad
revenue. But I only recommend Amazon (or the like) as a last resort.
If you support great, unique music, then support great, unique retailers.
Soundscapes
(572 College St) is the best local source for new CD's and other
music items (great book, magazine, DVD selections). Also, online, check out
CD Baby,
CD Roots (RootsWorld),
Sterns and more.
Toumani
Diabaté: The Mande Variations
The world's greatest kora player has put out his first
solo album since his very first release (Kaira), 20 years
ago. In subsequent years he has recorded with a wide
array of musicians, including the African/American (Taj Mahal)
collaboration Kulanjan, the Grammy-winning partnership with Ali
Farka Touré (In the Heart of the Moon) and his own
big-band 2007 release, Boulevard de
l'Indepdance.
This is quite a change from
those recordings, and even from his early solo recording. His
record label, World Circuit wrote the following, and given
allowances for the hype a company may reserve for its artists,
it gives a sense of the scope and majesty of the recording:
'The Mandé Variations' is
probably the most ambitious and challenging African instrumental
album yet released. It is at once the definitive statement on
where the kora is today and simply one of the most beautiful and
melodically accessible albums you will hear this year. An
important album for Africa, an important album for the world.
The death of singer Andy Palacio who not only made great
music (his Wátina was widely considered one of the best
2007 world music albums), but was dedicated to the preservation
and promotion of the Garifuna music and culture, was a great
loss to music.
This recording, like Wátina,
produced by Ivan Duran, was 10 years in the making, and features
a wide range of Garifuna women from across the country telling
and singing their stories. A beautiful, and very striking
record, unlike any of the other (limited) Garifuna recordings we
have heard in North America.
Kasai All Stars: In the 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and
Ate the Head of His Enemy By Magic
No contest... this is
the winner of the "best title of the year" award. The
music comes from 5 bands from the Kasai region of Congo -- all
different ethnic groups, playing traditional festive and ritual
music on traditional instruments, but with a modern urban mix and
production, coming out as its own sound, now dubbed "Congotronics"
Born in the U.S., her father was a
Zimbabwean musicologist and mbira player, her mother a singer. She
grew up performing music, and later moved to Zimbabwe with her
family. She absorbed and was committed to the traditional sounds of
Zimbabwe, especially the mbira, but brings some of the wider musical
world she grew up with to her songs. This is her first international
album in more than 10 years, and has made a huge hit around the
world with its lyrics, in both Shona and English addressing some of
the political and social issues in Zimbabwe, assertive, but without
the anger of a Mapfumo. A beautiful voice, lovely inspiring music.
See notes above under "Live Shows",
this recording shows off the long work they have spent together, and
helps prove the connectedness of the "American" banjo to its African
roots. They're joined by the world's greatest ngoni player, Bassekou
Kouyate and Guinean griot Cheka Dioubaté, now living here.
See
notes above under "Live Shows". Four years in the making,
Featuring a long list of guest artists including Pee Wee Ellis,
Ernest Ranglin, Mighty Pope, Jay Douglas, Ron Sexsmith.
Ry Cooder: The Ry Cooder
Anthology: The UFO Has Landed
A double CD, with 34 songs
spanning Cooder's career from 1970-2008 assembled by his son
Joachim. While
it doesn't include any of his three Grammy-winning forays into
world music (the liner notes don't even mention his
collaborations with V.M. Bhatt and Ali Farka Touré), his love of
great American roots music isat the heart of all the
recordings represented by this album, and the excellence of that
has perhaps been easy to forget over the past decade or so as he
has explored other music.
Here's a nice appreciation of Cooder and the CD from No
Depression.
"Everybody knows Carnegie
Hall's the place to go" -- Ry Cooder
Cooder's most successful project takes on new life in this
beautiful, double CD recording of the group's triumphant 1998
Carnegie Hall concert, previously captured in Wim Wenders'
documentary. The music, the audience and the musicians soar.
Video/audio. Check the
BVSC website,
click "At Carnegie Hall", and then "Video" for 3 clips.
Various: Nigeria Special: Modern
Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76
Nigerian
music was little known outside Africa in the early 70's, and these
musicians are mostly still unknown. (e.g., Collins Oke Elaiho & His
Odoligie Nobles Dance Band), but it's hard to stop playing this
great funky collection. 26 tracks, 26 artists.
For more info, audio, video clips,
liner notes, etc. see this
website.
These would probably be on my list
if...
... I had the CD's, but from the excerpts I've heard online or on
radio, and from reviews I have read, these deserve a place in my
"best of" list.
Franco & Le TPOK
Jazz: Francophonic(image)
I'm just waiting for my copy to
arrive. Franco was one of the giants of African music, and by
all accounts this is an excellent collection, superbly packaged.
See review and video of Franco on
All About Jazz website, and listen to samples of all the
songs on the
Stern's site.
Mariza: Terra
The Portuguese fado singer has
deservedly become a world music star, and many reviews call this
her best album yet. She'll be playing Toronto on Feb. 13.
Not released yet in North
America... watch for them in 2009:
Rokia Traore:
Tchamantchi
Although I've
heard little of this release yet, I have admired all of her
previous albums, and it has collected some great comments in
Europe. See Banning Eyre's review on Afropop Worldwide
here.
Rajery, BallakeSissoko & Driss El
Maloumi:3MA
The
musicians are Rajery, from Madagascar, who plays the valiha, a
20-string instrument made from a bamboo pole; Ballaké Sissoko,
the Malian master of the kora; and Driss El Maloumi from
Morocco. (The title comes from the first two letters of the 3
countries -- using the French "Maroc"). I have heard little of
the album itself, but my listing of it comes from the excellence
of the first two musicians (I don't know El Maloumi), the few
tracks I've heard, and the great reviews from Europe.
Here's a
video clip
of them performing, and you can get samples of each of the clips
from
Sterns' website.
Nigerian
music was little known outside Africa in the early 70's, and these
musicians are mostly still unknown. (e.g., Collins Oke Elaiho & His
Odoligie Nobles Dance Band), but it's hard to stop playing this
great funky collection. 26 tracks, 26 artists.