Black Flower - Kinetic

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 206, April 2025.

Black Flower
Kinetic
Sdban Ultra (40 mins)

Kinetic is the sixth album from Belgian five-piece Black Flower, and their sound is rightly evolving with their experience. The Ethio-jazz that characterised previous releases is more subtle here, and it is joined by intriguing influences from Bulgarian and Arabic music – the former especially lends itself to the band’s intricate style. All these sounds are united by a free-flowing, ecstatic jazz that works equally well in tightly-arranged interlocking melodies or exciting solos, absorbing the depth of dub and the groove of funk.

The production on this album is particularly impressive. The soundfield is luscious in a way that rewards headphone listening: melody lines and interesting little flourishes and effects crop up all around, but it manages to still sound surprisingly light and uncrowded. Each line and rhythm and sound feels very intentional in its placing in time and space. Together with Black Flower’s musical feats, this production makes Kinetic a joy to listen to.

Avalanche Kaito - Talitakum

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 198, June 2024.

Avalanche Kaito
Talitakum
Glitterbeat Records (42 mins)

Avalanche Kaito’s 2022 self-titled debut was a triumph of noise punk indelibly informed by Mossi griot music from Burkina Faso. Since then, relentless live shows and a slightly reworked line-up (bass replaced by guitar) have evolved the Franco-Belgo-Burkinabé trio’s sound. This time, their music feels a little more considered. It’s just as foreboding, abrasive and hypnotic, but the anarchic chaos that infused their first album is replaced by something more direct and focussed.

Each of the nine tracks on Talitakum has a unique sound that complements the album as a whole - it can go from glitch trap on one track to Tuareg Beefheart punk on the next. It is the attitude that unites them, the complex creativity of three musicians in simpatico, the delicious contrasts of frontman Kaito Winse’s beautiful voice against the harsh discords of distorted guitar and synth, the declamatory tama (talking drum) against the crashing drum kit.

The world of Avalanche Kaito no longer feels like a rattling, angry machine constantly on the verge of losing control, instead like a purposeful, powerful elemental spirit that creates through destruction. That change is for neither better nor worse, but it shows that this is a group that mutate and adapt and grow with experience, and will always have something new to say.

Kolonel Djafaar - Getaway

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 198, June 2024.

Kolonel Djafaar
Getaway
Batov Records (41 mins)

The simplest and most common description of Kolonel Djafaar’s sound is as a meeting of Ethiojazz and Afrobeat. And that’s true: the Ethiopian side is clear in those distinctive pentatonic scales, the Nigerian in the use of the small but meaty horn section (baritone and tenor saxophones, trumpet, occasional trombone), and the rhythms are a tight mix of Yoruba and Afro-Latin styles beloved of Fela and Mulatu, respectively. There’s a lot more to Getaway than that, though. There’s also a potent strain of Anatolian-Levantine psycho-surf, fluttering in through guitar and synth lines, and delving deeper, there’s nods to reggae, Cuban jazz, Baobab-esque West African dance band, and even an unsettling fairground waltz.

Just reading this list of musical ingredients, you might ho-hum. None of these individual fusions are particularly novel or untested; we’ve heard them before. But here they're polished to a cinematic shine, with no element clashing against the rest. It's very tidy, and it’s all neatly encapsulated in the opener, ‘Urban Dweller’ – a great intro to the album, showing off the breadth of the band’s explorations without feeling overloaded. The album ends on a pretty abrupt fade-out, a small disappointment when it feels like the musicians could jam out for much longer.

Press release: Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers - Somanti

First written as a press release for the album for Ballantyne Communications.

Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers
Somanti
Bongo Joe Records (38 mins)

Following on from their successful first collaborative album Vodou Alé (2020), Chouk Bwa and The Ångströmers release their second full-length LP, Somanti, with Bongo Joe Records on 6th October 2023. This mature but celebratory reunion mixes the powerful Vodou rituals of Haiti with compelling avant-garde electronic music and dub, born amid the creative whirlwind of a live tour.

The two groups come from very different traditions. Chouk Bwa hail from Gonaïves, the heartland of Haitian Vodou and the birthplace of the country’s independence; their mizik rasin (roots music) is steeped in the profound spirituality of the lakou temples, the revolutionary history of their hometown, and the African heritage of its people. Brussels-based duo The Ångströmers channel their passion for musique concrète, dub, hardcore and industrial and their expert knowledge of all manner of analogue electronics into a sympathetic but all-encompassing production. Both groups are connected by their ability to whip their listeners into ecstatic trance.

Together, their music ebbs and flows. Sometimes it smoulders like crackling embers, sometimes it explodes; sometimes it is a cappella, sometimes a wall of distorted drumscapes; sometimes uplifting, sometimes disturbing. It is always both deeply traditional and deeply contemporary, a union of America, Africa and Europe. In every direction, it is dance, trance music – equally at home at a rave or in a temple.

⁂

First crossing paths in 2016, the two groups began to formulate a joint project that led to their first performance together in 2018, and then quickly onto recording sessions. After a year of production, their debut album made it into the world. A lot has happened since then. A globally-enforced international separation meant that a tour planned for May 2020 was cancelled. The groups wouldn’t meet again for two-and-a-half years.

But the collaboration lived on, with two dubwise 12” EPs, Ayiti Kongo Dub #1 and #2, both released in 2022. When Chouk Bwa and The Ångströmers were finally reunited in May 2022, it was for an intense European tour. 32 concerts were interspersed with near-constant rehearsals, discussions, experiments, intercultural dialogue, and meticulous musical negotiations. It was during this time that the material for Somanti grew, organically.



“Being reunited again meant that we played with those tracks, we arranged them in many ways, and they became something totally different,” says Frederic Alstadt of The Ångströmers. “We had toured for about two months and we set up three days of recording sessions at a studio in Brussels, and basically we recorded everything in one day. There was one day of set-up, one day of recording and one day of fine tuning. We were playing live in the studio, and then we spent about two weeks producing it. It was done pretty fast, actually. It really came from the live energy.”

Although the process was much quicker, it has resulted in a more mature sound based on the closeness of the collaboration itself, the mutual respect and a deeper understanding of each other’s traditions, methods, and tastes.

Where Vodou Ale focussed on new compositions and narrative songs, Somanti is an album of ritual. Most of the pieces are based on ceremonial music with traditional lyrics disclosing wise proverbs. It is important to the musicians that the complexity and solemnity of the religious aspect is retained. Michael Wolteche, manager of Chouk Bwa, explains: “In Vodou, all of the rites have different rhythms. We could choose the ones that would most please Western ears, but we will not do that, we keep all of the different aspects. This is our way to respect a very complex, subtle culture. It is not just entertainment music. It is meant to bring the people to trance, but for people in Europe or the US, to bring a spiritual connection to the party.”

Chouk Bwa’s music is all-acoustic: it is the sound of wood, skin, metal, horn, and the human voice singing in Haitian Creole. There are strong cultural memories and rhythms within this music, in its invocations of the ancestral lands – the African kingdoms of Oyo, Kongo and Dahomey – and the shouted proclamations of the transcontinental Vodou spirit-deities of Legba, Ogou and Inan. There is a joyfulness in the songs, in their beautiful, relaxed harmony and dance-demanding rhythms, but there is also a darker side, an empathetic rage, bearing witness to injustice and advocating for the world’s poor.

The addition of The Ångströmers changes none of that, yet together they create a truly unique style. The cultures and their musics are combined carefully. The electronics are analogue, and vintage. No click-track, no sequencers, nothing that constricts music’s humanity in favour of rigidity and exactness: this is not a collaboration that can be restrained by the tyranny of computers. These rhythms, textures and tempos undulate like liquid, an effect only possible when each musician reacts to every other around them. As the Haitian and Belgian musicians are connected, the synthesised is linked directly with the organic, creating a seamless, cross-cultural, electro-acoustic percussive barrage. Musicians, instruments, electronics, audience, spirits: all are joined as one on Somanti.


Photo: Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers, by Davide Belotti.

Introducing Nyati Mayi & the Astral Synth Transmitters

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 182, November 2022.

Nyati Mayi is a singer and lulanga (trough zither) player with roots in DR Congo. His band the Astral Synth Transmitters is actually just one man – DJ soFa, aka Christophe Hammes, a producer, synthesist and crate-digger. They’re both members of the Brussels music scene, but their musical adventure together started out of the blue: “Nyati always sends spontaneous recordings of himself to his friends over text messages,” says Hammes. “During lockdown one morning, I turned on my phone and the recording he’d sent did me a lot of good. I walked directly from my bed to the studio next door, cut up the stuff and added synths and rhythm and sent it back. Three days later he came to my place and we started jamming.”

That was the start of a period of intense, unplanned collaboration. A spark of inspiration would become a loop over which Mayi improvised melodies and rhythms; the next day Hammes added his own synth ideas before remixing the lot into a cohesive whole – and then it’s onto the next song. “I'm very impatient, I never re-record or change much from what has been recorded. It's all about the magic of the moment.” Those 2020 sessions eventually crystallised into a debut album, Lulanga Tales, released in September 2022.

Although the duo have access to vast soundworlds of acoustic and electronic timbres, their music is pensive, even sparse. The signature twang and thrum of the lulanga is layered with complementary synth sounds and simple percussion, but the pulse is rarely defined with a strong beat. Mayi’s often wordless vocals are confident but gentle, teasing jazzy lines through the dubwise earthiness. The listener is given time and space to pause and ponder; it is, in a word, fascinating.

The music’s Congolese roots ring clear throughout, embodied in the lulanga. Although Mayi started off in the hip-hop scene, everything changed during a visit to his ancestral village of Nyangezi. “Twelve years ago when I visited my family there for the first time, I was talking about this instrument because I knew that my grandmother and grand-uncle played it,” he recalls. “20 minutes later, a guy from the village brought me the lulanga and just gave it to me. It was a new instrument to explore in my own way. For sure I didn’t play in the traditional Congo way, but with time, this lulanga has given me the opportunity to explore more and more.”

Mayi’s explorations have continued with his work with Hammes. They’re both musicians that create their own identities, and now they are discovering new styles together. For Hammes, it’s a source of admiration: “Nyati has a unique style that even transcends music. I believe that for certain people, not being part of the system helps to develop a stronger personal style; in my opinion a personal style is the highest achievement in music.” Remix-collabs between African tradi-modern and European electronic music are nothing particularly new, but Nyati Mayi and the Astral Synth Transmitters see and do things differently. With their in-the-moment process of improvised creation, their music leaves a lot to think about. Impressive work when there’s only two of them.


Photo: Nyati Mayi and his lulanga.

Avalanche Kaito - Avalanche Kaito

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 180, August/September 2022.

Avalanche Kaito
Avalanche Kaito
Glitterbeat Records (41 mins)

When the first track opens with ominous flat thrums of a bass guitar that make way for dissonant synth tones, distorted noise and crackling percussion ostinatos, you know you’re not in for your usual album of West African griot music. Avalanche Kaito is the meeting of Burkinabé singer and multi-instrumentalist Kaito Winse and a duo from Belgian noise punk group Le Jour du Seigneur. The small set-up allows for intimate collaboration and a focussed sound – it feels as if you’re sharing a tiny, loud room with the trio.

Winse’s tambin (Fula flute), tama (talking drum) and mouth bow (as well as his ancient sung, spoken or shouted proverbs) are always the star of the show, with the Belgians’ harsh synths and driving beats aiding in the groove – albeit usually an unexpected one, full of alien harmonies and strange modulations. Like all the best punk, Avalanche Kaito’s music is confrontational and abrasive, but also playful and with a great sense of fun. While it lacks the overwhelming intensity of similar projects such as Ifriqiyya Electrique, this debut album certainly has proper party-mode chops. It just happens that the party in question is in a warped, alternate-reality Afropean noise dungeon.

Making Tracks 2021 - The Sanctuary, Walthamstow, London

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 174, January/February 2022.



Making Tracks 2021
The Sanctuary, Walthamstow, London
11th November 2021

After the success of 2019 and a virtual version in 2020, this was the second in-person edition of Making Tracks' fellowship programme. Eight up-and-coming young European-based musicians got together for a two-week incubation residency on the west coast of Scotland, before setting off on a two-week UK tour. It all culminated in this concert in a cosy church in Walthamstow.

This year’s Making Tracks fellows were Ahmet Ozan Baysal (Turkey; bağlama, voice), Robert Bisha (Albania; piano, çifteli, voice), Iona Fyfe (Scotland; voice), Liz Hanks (England; cello); Simon Leleux (Belgium; doholla, daf), Pheobe riley Law (England; sound art), Thamires Tannous (Brazil; guitar, voice), Azin Zahedi (Iran; santur, flute). Their set alternated between solo spots highlighting each musician’s own work, and collaborations in duo, trio and quartet arrangements devised during their month-long adventure.

Mashing together intercultural ideas and distinct musical vocabularies can often end badly, but the sensitivity and relationships of these musicians – as well as their obvious musical mastery – meant that each collaboration was full of intrigue and beauty. Particularly inspired combinations included Fyfe and Bisha’s jazzy take on Hamish Henderson’s 'The Flyting of Life and Death' (with flavours of Tigran Hamasyan), and Tannous, Zahedi and Hanks performing an as-yet-untitled new composition.

Making Tracks has really special spark, making disparate artists comfortable enough to explore in ways they wouldn’t have thought possible. Keep these artists on your radar - and if you weren’t lucky enough catch it this time around, look out for the live album coming in 2022.


Photo: A bunch of Making Tracks fellows tuck in overlooking Loch Long in west Scotland, by Merlyn Driver.

Azmari - Samā’ī

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 165, March 2021.

Azmari
Samā’ī
Sdban Ultra (44 min)

When Belgian six-piece Azmari get into that Ethio-groove, they go in hard. The immediately distinctive Ethiopian kignit scales possess horn solos and intoxicating basslines, and the Latin percussion, synth journeys and fun time signatures give the group the sound of a dubbed-out hybrid of Mulatu Astatke, Herbie Hancock, Snarky Puppy and Alice Coltrane.

The hype around this debut album has played up the promise of a juicy mix between Ethio-jazz and retro-style Turkish psychedelia. Unfortunately, apart from the occasional bağlama solo or Anatolian-leaning scale, this never really arrives. An unexpected fusion that I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the introduction of Ethio-klezmer. I’m not sure I would have ever thought to combine those two fertile musical cultures, but a pentatonic sax solo full of sobbing klezmer krekhts over an 11/8 groove and a full-on funky bass – as on the track ‘Kamilari’ – certainly converted me.

Samā’ī is a promising debut for Azmari, and it presents their music in a way that begs for a live performance. The musical interactions within the band are tight enough to feel well-honed and loose enough to feel natural and care-free. When tours become a thing again, I’m sure this group will put on a hell of a show; for now, this album is a good place to start.

Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers - Vodou Alé

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 159, July 2020.

Chouk Bwa & The Ångströmers
Vodou Alé
Bongo Joe (38 mins)

Chouk Bwa were a revelation upon their debut album, 2015’s Se Nou Ki La!, a wonderful set of simple but hard-hitting Haitian Vodou religious roots made up of thumping drums and joyous harmonised vocals. Their follow-up takes things in a different direction as they team up with Belgian production duo The Ångströmers.

The result is dark, dirty and dubby. Although impactful, the production work leaves ample space for the Haitians to breathe without threatening to submerge their sound completely. It may be as subtle as the addition of a bubbling, droning underbelly to a song; the best moments come when the focus is rhythmic, the heavy synth beats mixing alongside the Vodou drums.

However, this musical meeting feels less like a hands-on collaboration than a sort of remix project, as if Chouk Bwa did their thing separately before the Ångströmers came in to chop and change and add their electronic flourishes later. As such, there’s a slight distance between performance and production that stops the project short of achieving that sublime cross-cultural connection I’d hoped it would be. Vodou Alé is a little less than the sum of its parts.

Maghreb Bass: Sofyann ben Youssef

First published in fRoots issue 425, Summer 2019



“We allow ourselves to create this dream space where we fantasise about the future. That is because our respective countries are witnessing very strong changes, politically, economically, geo-politically. In those places we feel a sense of responsibility to be proactive toward a future. The present we don’t like at all and we have to fucking change it.”

In talking about the process behind his solo-with-collaborators project AMMAR 808, Sofyann ben Youssef gives a succinct manifesto for a Maghrebi futurist movement, and the philosophy that permeates his music regardless of its musical direction. Whether he’s behind the synth, behind the mixing desk or behind the scenes, there is no doubt that Sofyann is changing the future of Tunisian music.

Tunis-born and Brussels-based, Sofyann has been crucial to three of the most banging projects to explode out of North Africa in the past five years: Nigerien Tuareg rockers Kel Assouf, Tunisian mountain musicians Bargou 08 and the aforementioned AMMAR 808. His masterful synth wrangling, drum programming and holistic production wizardry have instilled these projects with a heart-pounding energy and a deliciously dark undercurrent while taking nothing at all away from the traditions at play. When Sofyann is involved, multiple musical worlds come together with mutual enrichment.

In his time, Sofyann has studied everything from Western, Arabic and Hindustani classical music to jazz, metal and all manner of electronica. It’s all beloved to him and it’s all there in his work, and it’s as AMMAR 808 that he allows his musical philosophies and practices to be most easily heard – and seen. The first album under that name, 2018’s Maghreb United, saw him joined by musicians from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, all bringing their own influences to play among Sofyann’s ever-sympathetic production to create a style that he calls ‘Maghreb bass.’

His way of working is at once that of a mechanic and that of an artist. He spends a long time learning about every musical element involved, and breaks them down into their most basic constituent parts before building them up into a different form. Where so many ‘world fusion’ projects collide different cultures together to mixed success, Sofyann brings them together from the same foundations into one, new culture. And once that material is prepared, he becomes the sculptor. “Once the song is recorded, the most exciting part kicks in, which is placing new elements on the rhythm, and that’s going to change everything. It’s a superfast process. Sometimes it takes ten minutes to make a song, sometimes I do it while listening to it and that’s it. And that’s super intense. You get all sweaty and you’re scared to lose that momentum. That’s the most intense part, and the rest is just fine tuning.”

The end result is a hypnotic soundscape that stretches from the dusty ground to outer space. Science fiction is an important cultural touchstone for Sofyann, so it’s not too surprising that his outlook – musically and politically – tends towards the intergalactic and the cinematic. His solo project AMMAR 808 is as much for the eyes as it is the ears.

“I wanna present things that are useful to the world, and beautiful, and also that could have impact and inspire people to a different way of thinking,” he explains. “I think today we live in a very visual world, and the bandwidth of an image is much higher than a sound. You see a lot of information in an image that sound sometimes cannot cover. It’s complementary; that is why AMMAR 808 as a project is very visual. We shot original material for the show. I did a residency of one week or so with visual artists, a fashion designer, actors, dancers, to create the filmic material of the project. I wanted to do some sort of holistic experience with this project and find the best way to express it and articulate it on the stage.” The outcome, as engineered by VJs during the AMMAR 808 live shows, is an ever-changing collage of film and images equally inspired by the traditional and the abstract, full of masked dancers, ecstatic swirls and distorted colour. The whole thing feels actually rather disorientating and unnerving. The atmosphere created by the visuals generates the perfect mindset to allow the audience to fall into the music head first.

The all-encompassing fusion of musical styles, emotions and worldwide traditions is making waves back in North Africa, as well as in the European/North American ‘world music’ scene. With his musical projects, Sofyann is challenging and changing the way that Maghrebis discuss and imagine music: “I get super positive reactions there, but to process the information, people always feel obliged to make some sort of comparison to western bands. ‘Yo, this is like the Chemical Brothers of Tunisia!’ things like that. It’s kind of interesting really. There is a missing vocabulary to grasp the project.” In this way, his work is changing not just Maghrebi music itself, but also fertilising the ground upon which it grows, opening up new possibilities and directions for potential exploration while still empowering the roots and traditions from which the rest are built. That development is also taking place thanks to Sofyann’s activities in Tunisia’s home-grown music industry.

Mass upheaval has affected every level of Maghrebi society over the past decade, and the musical ecosystem reflects this, but Sofyann sees this as an opportunity for optimism: “To be honest the music scene in Tunisia is not too structured and not too organised, but that makes a lot of things possible to happen. In Europe, for instance, things are super-organised on that level, but we have the chance to rethink the whole system. So I hope that at least in the Maghreb and the region that I know that changes like that can happen.” Naturally, he’s leading the charge.

In 2013, he co-founded the first Tunisian music export office, Tumex. That came a little early; the scene wasn’t quite ready to export to an international audience, and political instability meant that funding streams eventually dried up. Tumex closed after three years, but it started to lay the groundwork and began to get Tunisia’s local scene noticed on the international market. It’s only been a few years, but a lot has changed since then, and Sofyann is once again making moves to evolve the landscape. This year, he launches Goul Music, a record label “based in Tunisia, from Tunisia, and with Tunisian dinar.” With Goul Music, the aim is to showcase the music of now, introducing the lesser-known sounds of Tunisia to the rest of the country itself, as well as the rest of the world. The label launches with a series of field recordings of contemporary folkloric music, and will move onward to younger traditions, with the view to change opinions of Tunisian music: “the catalogue will be more about stimulating young people into new ways of seeing music and themselves.” And here again we see Sofyann’s holistic approach: great music on its own can touch a person, but its impact is all the more powerful when contextualised in an effective way – as such, the Goul releases will be comprehensive and multimedia, featuring interviews and documentary footage to allow a depth of understanding that has so far been lacking in relationship to this music.

I hope that it is not too obvious to say that he is a busy man. Busy is never in his plans, but it seems to creep up on him nevertheless. “The thing that can fail sometimes is time. I don’t want to do much, but I want to do good. But I always end up doing much as well!” And looking at his schedule for the coming few years, he is definitely doing much. As well as the forthcoming releases on Goul Music, the latest album by Kel Assouf, Black Tenere, came out just last month, and the second AMMAR 808 album is very much in the works – he hints at a South Asian focus this time around. And that’s not to mention the five or so other albums that he will be producing or guesting on over the course of 2019. It seems his work is only just beginning.

With everything that he does, it is clear that Sofyann ben Youssef is working towards the future of Maghrebi music and, with that, society at large. “We have all sorts of events happening in Tunisia, on a political level, on an economic level, it’s not easy. But it’s hopeful. And I think that has an impact on music. It has a positive impact in a way that people are trying to reinvent themselves. It’s always like that after big changes, you see different possibilities.”


Photo: AMMAR 808, by Sia Rosenberg; Sofyann ben Youssef, by Stine Sampers.

Hijaz - Nahadin

First published in fRoots double issue 379-380, January-February 2015

Hijaz
Nahadin
Zephyrus Music (38 mins)

It seems to be a good time for Arabic-flavoured jazz.

Hijaz is a quartet based in Belgium with members also hailing from Tunisia, Portugal and the UK. The band’s stated philosophy is to focus on the interplay between the oud, with its Middle-Eastern tuning and quarter-tones, and the piano, the traditional jazz instrument with its rigid western tunings. This album, though, shows that the group actually go further than this – all four of the players (the quartet completed by double bass and Arabic percussion) make very valuable contributions to the sound.

The jazz that Hijaz play is clean but not afraid to journey over to the verges of tonality, and Nahadin contains a good mix of ballads and more upbeat, rhythmic pieces. There’s also some downright funky sections, such as the bass and percussion intro to 'Desert Dancer', which could easily work as an intro from the classic jazz of the 1960s.

The tracks are arranged between the standard jazz structure of head-and-solos and something closer to through-composition – often, the solos will dissolve into a more open-ended exploration of the themes. About half of the tracks also feature a taqsim-like unmetred intro, often rendered in a jazz style, which is a nice touch.

The balance between the jazz and Arabic sounds is near perfect. There are also subtle Indian influences evident, and the track 'Hawa' explores these in more depth, introducing bansuri flute to the group’s line-up. The sound that Hijaz create seems crafted to worked best as instrumental, so when Arabic-style vocals (both sung and spoken) are introduced once or twice throughout the album, they do seem a little superfluous, at best.

Overall, a great album with an interesting and sometimes exciting look at the connections between the scales, rhythms and timbres of the Arabic and jazz forms. One of the best and most successful fusions of its kind.

La Chiva Gantiva

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2014 delegate guide.



They're a Colombian band, based in Belgium with members from France and Vietnam and they sing in Spanish, French, and sometimes a mix of the two (Francpañol?). Their music is no less eclectic. La Chiva Gantiva create their music from a base of traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms but from there they take the listener on a musical voyage, with ports in Latin music, Afrobeat, jazz, funk and hip-hop. Although they've only just released their second album in February 2014, their sound feels much more mature, without it losing any of its energy or letting over-thought get in the way of the fun. La Chiva Gantiva deal in dance, so don't be surprised if staying still is impossible.

Photo: A man on a mission - Mundial La Chiva Gantiva, by Michiel Bles. Used under licence CC BY-NC 2.0.

Karim Baggili - Kali City

First published in fRoots double issue 374-375, August-September 2014

Karim Baggili
Kali City
Home Records (50 mins)

A Belgian of Yugoslav-Jordanian heritage, Karim Baggili has so far made his name through his blend of flamenco, tango, South American folk and Western and Arabic classical music. In this, his fourth album, Baggili gets in touch with his Levantine roots and puts down his usual Spanish guitar to return to the oud. Kali City is Baggili’s second major exploration into oud music (all self-composed), and to kick off the album, he invites the Palestinian oud trio Le Trio Joubran to join in.

The first five tracks of the album are moody duets and trios of oud between Baggili and Le Trio, with subtle percussion. Here, Baggili’s skills as both an oud player and composer can been heard as the various oud parts swirl together and swim apart, with tango and flamenco teasing their way out of the Arabic melodies.

Given the high status of these guests and their prominence in the album’s press, it’s a little strange that the album actually reaches its peak once they have taken their leave. They hand over to Baggili’s ‘Arabic Band’ to support him, and with violin, bass, kawala flute, drums and percussion, as well as Arabic vocals provided by Samia Sabri and Baggili himself. This ensemble seems to create a more exciting sonic landscape – a bustling urban environment rather than a stark desert scene. The album’s title track and the piece 'Arabic Circus', both from this latter half of the album, are probably the most enjoyable of the set, bringing to the mix flavours of jazz, classical music and even the occasional aroma of the 19th century Parisian café.

Karim Baggili does seem to have announced himself as just as proficient on the oud as the Spanish guitar and makes an entertaining album while he’s at it. It’s just a bit of a shame that the collaboration with Le Trio Joubran doesn’t quite delivery.