Theresa May’s ‘Hostile Environment’ Strikes Again

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 150, August/September 2019.



With a year past since the eruption of the Windrush scandal, the government’s aggressive, unfair and illogical approach to immigration and citizenship shows no signs of improvement. One of the latest victims of these policies is London-based Afro-jazz singer Bumi Thomas. On June 7 2019, she was given notice that she must leave the country voluntarily by June 21 or face detention and deportation.

Thomas was born in Glasgow to Nigerian parents, who relocated to Kano, Nigeria when she was three. She moved back to the UK as soon as she could – when she got her passport at the age of 18 – and went on to study fine arts at Bath Spa University before moving to London to pursue her successful music career. Her style is based around jazz, but she brings in elements from soul, folk and many African styles too; her career has seen her work with musicians such as Tony Allen, Nneka, Muntu Valdo and Keziah Jones.

Thomas’ deportation notice comes after a decade-long legal battle for her indefinite right to remain – which was denied. The problem arose from the fact that she was born just months after Margaret Thatcher’s government revoked the UK’s birthright citizenship; parents instead had to apply for citizenship for their children. As Thomas’ older sister received dual citizenship, her parents didn’t realise the law had changed. The situation is being seen as a continuation of the ‘hostile environment’ policies enacted by Theresa May as Home Secretary, which have continued throughout her premiership.

Luckily, the singer’s popularity has led to her case receiving a lot of attention in the press and on social media, and the #JusticeforBumi campaign is gathering momentum: a GoFundMe page set up to help cover Thomas’ legal costs has smashed targets, and she has been invited to the House of Lords to discuss her case as well as the wider issues surrounding it. It should be remembered that Thomas’ case gained visibility due to her public profile; there are many people in the same situation that are fighting this system alone.

Thomas herself is taking positives from the struggle: “There is a surreal sense of displacement,” she says, “yet I have never felt more connected to the UK. I am tethered by my art and music, which enables me to heal, connect and make sense of my emotions. It has been a pretty traumatic ordeal, offset tremendously by the overflow of support, love, compassion and advocacy I’ve received from the London creative community, reaffirming my belief in the kindness of the human spirit.” On June 21, she officially filed the first stage of her appeal and, as of writing, is awaiting confirmation of a court date in which a final decision will be made. The thoughts and positive energy of all of us at Songlines are with Bumi in this turbulent time, and we hope her case can be resolved quickly and positively.


Photo: Bumi Thomas, by Ade 'Ásiko' Okelarin.

Kayhan Kalhor & the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio - It’s Still Autumn

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 150, August/September 2019.

Kayhan Kalhor & the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio
It’s Still Autumn
Kepera Records (55 mins)

The collaboration between Iranian kamancheh spike-fiddle master Kayhan Kalhor and Dutch Baroque-jazz ensemble the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio has been a long time in the making: even the recordings that make up this album were made back in 2015.

The trio had been experimenting with Persian pieces alongside Baroque repertoire even before linking up with Kalhor, and when they’re all together, it’s easy to hear why. There’s unusual instrumentation going on here: Frerichs plays the fortepiano, a cousin of the piano that sounds closer to a harpsichord; Tony Overwater plays the violone, a large bass viol with frets; and Vinsent Planjer’s drums are a ‘whisper kit’ featuring antique-style drums. These timbres put them in a space beyond geography. Is that a piano or a santur? A double bass or some sort of giant oud? Together with Kalhor’s peerless kamancheh, at once fragile and powerful, the four musicians enter a unique sound-world.

It’s Still Autumn is split into two larger works – ‘Dawn’ (which contains five movements) and ‘Dusk’ (which is four). The former is quiet and beautiful, the music slowly waking up as if with the world; the latter has more of a hubbub about it, echoing urban environments in the more rhythmically focused sections. This album was definitely worth the wait; let’s hope the relationship continues to bear such exquisite fruit.

Atlas Maior - Riptide

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 150, August/September 2019.

Atlas Maior
Riptide
Atlas Maior (59 mins)

This Austin, Texas-based band specialise in a mix of contemporary and progressive jazz with music from the Arab and Turkish worlds. At the core of Atlas Maior and Riptide is the intricate interplay between the alto saxophone of Josh Thompson and the oud of Charlie Lockwood. They take turns in soloing, they come together for unison sections and branch off into harmonies occasionally.

While similar Arabic jazz fusions can tend towards the slower, quieter and more pensive side of things, you won’t get that here. The default pace is driving and the energy is just tastefully short of bombastic. There are cameos from other styles such as cumbia, Ethiojazz, surf rock and reggae, and the sax sometimes has a Balkan feel to it, bringing to mind Yuri Yunakov.

There’s also a handful of guests joining the sax-oud-drums (Ted Camat) core of Atlas Maior. Roberto Riggio provides some beautiful double-stopped violin on the track ‘Chamber of Mirrors’ but it’s the album’s closer ‘Osman Pehlivan’ featuring Palestinian oud player Sari Adoni that is the overall highlight. The ten-minute epic allows for the development of emergent thematic material that draws on all the other styles found throughout the album, leading to a fulfilling conclusion.

Joshua Hyde - Sol: A Series of Reflections

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 150, August/September 2019.

Joshua Hyde
Sol: A Series of Reflections
Integrated Records (42 mins)

From the very first track, ‘Call’, it’s clear that in Sol: A Series of Reflections, Joshua Hyde intents to deal more in atmospheres than explicit melodies, and certainly more than rhythms. This opening track consists of six-and-a-half minutes of extended accordion chords, which slowly become more complex and add more passing notes to resemble proto-melodies as the piece continues.

Melodies and rhythms do emerge over the course of the album, but the whole thing retains a thoughtful introspection and calm. The focus is on the sounds of the instruments just as much – and often more – than the music they can make. This connection is maintained right down to the extended decay and silence at the end of the last track. Hyde even includes descriptions of the instruments (all of which he plays himself) and his relationships to them within the album notes. Not that it’s all about ambience and timbre. Hyde does take a pleasant detour into jazz when he gets his hands on a baritone saxophone, which stands apart from the stark piano harmonics that accompany it on the track ‘Dialogue’.

Sol is a very good meditation on sound, although it feels a little as if it takes the whole album to build up to a climax that never comes.

Massa Dembele - Alumaye

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 150, August/September 2019.

Massa Dembele
Alumaye
Izniz Records (33 mins)

The second album from the Burkinabé kamalengoni player Moussa Dembele has a much bigger sound compared to his mostly solo debut from 2017, Mezana Dounia. Here he is joined by a full band including balafon, folikan flute and bara, calabash, djembe and tama drums.

The album has a lovely organic, unplugged atmosphere, although there are occasional appearances by electric guitar and bass the further you get through it, used sparingly enough to add an interesting flavour without changing the overall vibe. There’s also these little burst of flavour from the folikan of Moussa Saifal Diarra, whose vocalisations draw sonic comparisons to the jazz flute of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

And allowing these sounds – and Dembele’s Mande (and sometimes English) lyrics – to flourish are the kamalengoni, balafon and drums, which build up grooves that are seemingly infinite but, like everything in life, end up ultimately disappointingly finite. Considering the brevity of this album, it feels as if there could have been room to extend some of the tracks a little bit to really dig deep into those grooves, and get them properly wedged deep into the subconscious.