Making Tracks 2024 - Grand Junction, Paddington, London

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 203, December 2024.



Making Tracks 2024
Grand Junction, Paddington, London
3rd October 2024

Now on its fifth edition, Making Tracks is one of those not-to-be-missed occasions once autumn rolls around. Eight young artists, each from a different musical world, get together for two weeks of concerted collaboration, which continues to evolve across a two-week tour. This year featured participants from the UK, Syria/Germany, Denmark, Kenya, East Turkestan and Finland (see makingtracksmusic.org/fellows for the full list; they deserve more recognition than space allows here!).

For this tour’s penultimate concert at London’s Grand Junction, we were treated to two-and-a-half hours of unique collaborations interspersed with solo showcases from each musician. All eight remained on stage throughout, and it was always exciting to see who would stir to join in the next piece – will it be a medley of Newfoundland, Uyghur and Swedish songs? A composition for Arabic violin and tama (talking drum)? Hurdy-gurdy and Kenyan drums? It’s impressive just how accomplished these musical relationships were after such a short – albeit intense – gestation. Interspecies connections were also emphasised this year, with nature embraced as an equal participant, from transcriptions of whalesong to electronically-wrangled biosignals of sea-kale. The high, intricately decorated Victorian church ceilings of Grand Junction afforded interesting reverberations, highlighting acoustic elements that would have been lost in a less cavernous venue – a lovely marriage of sound and space.

Making Tracks has hit upon a winning formula, for the creation of both beautiful music, and lasting artistic partnerships. In his opening speech, director Merlyn Driver referred to the concert as “nourishing music” – this really is the sort of project that can achieve meaningful new musical directions.


Photo: Making Tracks 2024 at Grand Junction, by Andrea Terzuoli. L-R: Nina Harries, Anna McLuckie, Shohret Nur, Christian Mohr Levisen, Kasiva Mutua, Ossi Raippalinna, Ayman Hlal (Helen Anahita Wilson is obscured behind Hlal).

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow - Just Leave It All Behind

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 196, April 2024.

Mukdad Rothenberg Lankow
Just Leave It All Behind
Clermont Music (41 mins)

Music doesn’t have to have words in order to say something. Just Leave It All Behind sees three instrumentalists coming together to improvise for peace.

This is the second album from a group collaboration that has been bubbling for years. Each participant is multiply-hyphenate in their work: Wassim Mukdad is a doctor, an oud player and an anti-torture campaigner; David Rothenberg is a professor of philosophy, a clarinettist and an interspecies sound artist; Volker Lankow is a nurse, a percussionist and an aid worker for Médecins sans Frontières. Together, their music-flow touches the worlds of Levantine classical, jazz, acoustic-ambient and even blues.

Although the album is entirely instrumental, its music is inextricably entangled with the importance of human rights and the trio’s yearning for peace – for which this release is as timely as any. In the accompanying notes, the artists say ‘these improvisations represent the belief that art can help us get beyond the darkest impulses of humanity.’ However, the end result feels less provocative than that mission statement implies. The musicians and their abilities combine well – this would undoubtedly be a lovely collaboration to experience live, but in an album setting it somewhat lacks a coherent through-narrative. This set is a clarion call for human good, with multiple beautiful moments, but perhaps not as powerful as its message deserves.

Francis Gay - WOMEX 22 Professional Excellence Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2022 delegate guide.



At the very core of music are the musicians. Every other aspect of our industry is about lifting up those musicians, and Francis Gay has achieved this more than most. Over the past 40 years, Gay has been involved in basically every part of the European world music industry.

He’s probably best known for his work in radio, revolutionising Germany’s Cosmo Radio (formerly Funkhaus Europa) as its head of music while hosting his own internationally-renowned shows Selektor and 5Planeten. He’s also a journalist and writer, a DJ, a promoter of concerts and clubs, a festival director and curator, a record producer, a finder of elusive musicians and an all-around expert on the musical here-and-now. He raises artists up every step of the way, bringing attention to special sounds that would otherwise remain unheard. He doesn’t guard his expertise jealously, either: he’s a familiar face at industry events all over the world, spreading his knowledge far and wide and always mentoring the younger generation of professionals. He’s even been ever-present at WOMEX since he spoke and DJed at the inaugural event in 1994.

It is undeniable that without him, the shape of music in Europe would look – and sound – very different. It is for his passionate and tireless commitment to the worldwide musical community; for introducing the world’s best music to many, many ears; and for keeping musicians at the core, that Francis Gay is the recipient of the WOMEX 22 Award for Professional Excellence.


Photo: Francis Gay recieves his WOMEX 22 Award, by Yannis Psathas.

Rabii Harnoune & VB Kühl - Gnawa Electric Laune II

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 181, October 2022.

Rabii Harnoune & VB Kühl
Gnawa Electric Laune II
Tru Thoughts (58 mins)

As you might guess, this album is the sequel to the first collaboration between Moroccan Gnawa musician Harnoune and German producer Kühl, which came out in 2020. With two years to percolate their ideas, the approach seems to be ‘more of the same, but bigger’. Each of the 12 tracks has many layers of sound that give it a luscious atmosphere, like a jungle where different voices, synths, basses, beats, percussions, riffs and assorted beeps and bloops loom out from the denseness the closer you listen.

While Harnoune’s Gnawa roots usually provide some element of a baseline throughout with some combination of guimbri (bass lute), qaraqab (metal castanets) and singing, Kühl’s production builds from those foundations to take in all sorts of electronic dance influences. There’s a more jazzy edge this time around, whether it’s within the chilled lo-fi vibes of ‘Jilani’ or the get-up-and-dance remix-feel of ‘Aisha’. There are also calmer moments where Harnoune sings in a more classical Arabic style such as on ‘Gihaorba’, which provides a nice contrast.

As with the previous album, this project doesn’t come close to the intensity of the Gnawa lila ceremony, but it’s still plenty of fun for a light-hearted listen with a Moroccan flavour.

Nabra & Ligeti Quartet - Sounds of Sudan

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 172, November 2021.

Nabra & Ligeti Quartet
Sounds of Sudan
Nabra (38 mins)

Bristol-based oud players Ali Elmubarak and Knud Stüwe came together as Nabra in 2015 to explore a shared love of Sudanese music. The duo’s debut album sees them teaming up with the Ligeti string quartet to give a new twist to classic Sudanese pop.

Sudanese music is always a treat – inherently African and unmistakeably Arabic, full of pentatonic groove and dancing rhythms – and this set of seven folk-leaning pop songs from Sudan’s ‘golden era’ shows it well. The Ligeti Quartet’s strings bring a lightness that complements the earthy ouds and add a distinct classical flavour while maintaining the playful nature of the songs.

The string arrangements are clearly – and admittedly – inspired by the Kronos Quartet, and are most effective during the more poetic and lyrical pieces, where their parts can swell and swirl around the melodies of Elmubarak’s voice. When the pieces skew towards the dancier side of things, however, the quartet can struggle a little to find space among the rhythm. Strings are great for subtlety and emotion but sometimes what you really need is the nice, heavy boom of the sadly absent tar (frame drum).

Sounds of Sudan is a solid debut and interesting collaboration – definitely one to keep on your radar.

Rabii Harnoune & VB Kühl - Gnawa Electric Laune

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 158, June 2020.

Rabii Harnoune & VB Kühl
Gnawa Electric Laune
Tru Thoughts (67 mins)

This is an album that has me very much in two minds. It’s a fusion between Gnawa music from Morocco remixed for the European club dancefloor. Rabii Harnoune is the Gnawi responsible for the thumping guimbri and soulful wailing, and VB Kühl is the German producer who recontextualises it among all things electronic.

It’s not the most original idea out there – Gnawa x club fusions have been around for a long time and there are better examples of it than this. In accommodating the African groove, the club music seems tamped while the raw and heady energy of the Gnawa ceremony dissipates upon association with the frivolous beats’n’bleeps and cool R&B. And yet, and yet! There’s no denying that this album is really fun. It’s light-hearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The DIY nature of the production gives it a natural feel and the fusion flows on unforced.

Gnawa Electric Laune may not blow your mind with originality or sheer power, but as long as you approach with the right frame of mind – up for a good time without too much overthinking – it’s still an album that will be able to move your body to its own beat.

Spotlight: Analog Africa & Samy Ben Redjeb

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 139, July 2018.



An iconic record label needs a signature sound, a unifying element that makes all its releases stand out as its own. Analog Africa undoubtedly has that. Its records are unmistakable, whether they’re from Cameroon, Cape Verde or Colombia. They all have that distinctive blend of funk, soul and local traditions with a gloriously chaotic analogue charm – Analog Africa’s records always represent the epitome of African groove.

It’s all down to a man with impeccable taste and a ridiculous travel schedule. Samy Ben Redjeb crafts each album himself, from the sequencing and licencing to writing the sleeve notes. His gift for curation has its roots in his teenage years in Tunisia. “When I was working in bakeries and coffee shops, I made mixtapes. I drew the cover myself and I would earn maybe 10 cents a cassette. That taught me how to combine the songs so they flowed nicely together. I think that was the beginning.”

He went on to be a diving instructor, a hotel DJ, an airline steward…anything that allowed him to travel (and listen) widely. Time in Senegal opened his ears to the world of Sub-Saharan music, and he ended up hopping the continent at every opportunity, gathering experiences and records at every stop. It’s a habit he keeps to this day. While in Zimbabwe, he realised he could give this music the wider audience it deserved. After the first Analog Africa record, by wha-wha band The Green Arrows in 2006, there was no looking back.

Each album explores a scene or artist from anywhere across Africa and Afro-Latin America, but they’re all from the 60s to the 80s, building a snapshot of all things funky in that golden period. What is it about that particular sound that excites Redjeb? There’s a clue in the label’s name: “It’s the quality, the way it was recorded live, the analogue set-up. Often the bands didn’t have so much money; they just didn’t have the equipment. They were doing bricolage. If a valve went in an amp, they wouldn’t have the exact replacement, they would improvise. You don’t know how they made that sound, you can’t recreate it.”

He’s not a rabid crate-digger hunting for only the most obscure artefacts, though. “People think I’m all about the really rare stuff, which is not the criteria at all. Some of the songs I love most have been huge hits. For me, it just has to be interesting. It has to make me curious.” That philosophy extends to his regular Analog Africa DJ sets. The stuff he plays is obviously top-notch, but don’t just expect the back-catalogue: “Generally I play the stuff that I’m going to release. I don’t tend to play much of the music I already have on my label. Just because I heard it so much and I’m tired of it!”

It’s no wonder there’s always another album on the horizon and multiple projects happening at once. There are forthcoming releases from Ghana, Somalia and the Brazilian Amazon, and you just know Redjeb has a million other exciting things up his sleeve. With a sound as recognisable as Analog Africa’s, quality is most definitely assured.

LaBrassBanda - Europa

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 109, July 2015.

LaBrassBanda
Europa
Sony Music (56 mins)

This is a re-release of the Bavarian brass-band-cum-techno-outfit’s second album, although why a record that has only been out for two years needs a re-release, I’m not quite sure.

The brass side of the group takes the most influence from Bavarian and Balkan styles, with a few hints of New Orleans brass, and although in other albums and live the band explore ska punk, reggae and other genres, here they focus more on the poppy side of techno.

Occasionally, their blend of Europop synths and drum machines with brass can produce good individual tracks, such as the stand-out ‘Frankreich’, but throughout most of the album, the fusion seems pretty unimaginative and not particularly enjoyable, either. At times the music can be literally painful too: don’t listen to the track ’Schweden’ with headphones – the heavily-panned kick drum would make anyone queasy. Frankly, this is a bit of a bizarre re-release of a recent album that isn’t the group’s best. Catch them live instead.

Stephan Micus - Panagia

Previously unpublished.

Stephan Micus
Panagia
ECM Records (65 mins)

This album is based upon seven Byzantine Greek Orthodox prayers to the Virgin Mary – the titular Panagia. Micus uses this image to represent the ‘female energy’ that is represented in goddesses in many religions and the concept of yin and yang in Taoism, believing that this work helps to spiritually balance the male-dominated world we live in.

In his usual style, Micus performs all parts of the album himself on instruments thrown together from all over the world – here he uses plucked and bowed string instruments from Pakistan, Bavaria, India and East Turkestan, as well as the Egyptian ney (flute) and his own invention, the 14-string guitar. The styles of music he plays on these instruments are no less varied, from Greek Orthodox and Gregorian church music to elements of Indian and Chinese classical music. Micus’ vocals also play a prominent role on the album and they’re sung entirely in Greek – a language he doesn’t understand.

As pretentious as the album’s concept and execution seems, the music on it is actually not unpleasant. Most tracks display an interesting array of genres from around the world without staying overly precious to the instruments the artist has adopted. Micus’ overdubbing technique works well for the most part, especially during instrumental pieces, although it does have a tendency to get a little unsettling when vocals are involved – a chorus of 22 Stephan Micuses (Mici?) is somewhat disconcerting.

This is a good relaxing listen, and more enjoyable if you appreciate its spiritualism, or alternatively, ignore it.