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.

Tonga Boys feat. Doctor Kanuska Group - Umoyo wa Muthempire (Live in the Temple)

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

Tonga Boys feat. Doctor Kanuska Group
Umoyo wa Muthempire (Live in the Temple)
1000HZ Records (50 mins)

For those in the Malawian countryside, the Tonga Boys from Mzuzu are a band from the big city and the group’s arrival to perform at Doctor Kanuska’s traditional temple caused a stir. There, the urban DIY sounds of the Tonga Boys met the singers and dancers of the temple’s congregation for a night of deep vimbuza (spirit possession healing music) mixed in with malipenga (military music from the Tonga Boy’s homeland of Nkhata Bay) and even a couple of stripped-back dancehall numbers.

There are real field recording vibes from this album. The way the sound bounces around the room, the gentle bubble of chatter and the excited electricity of this one-of-a-kind performance all strongly evoke a sense of place. It feels like you’re there and the intensity of the event is palpable.

In the temple, the music was all voice and percussion, but Polish producer Piotr Dang Cichocki adds an extra layer. The production elements – synthed bass and drums, samples – are surprisingly subtle for the size of their sound, often blending seamlessly into the percussion density and adding a complementary boom to the ngoma drums to ensure those transcendental chest cavity reverberations.

This is a unique mix of urban-rural, folk-dance-religious-party music with an acid twang. To be there live must have been unforgettable; this album is the next best thing.

Ebo Krdum - Diversity

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

Ebo Krdum
Diversity
Supertraditional (55 mins)

Diversity is a theme in Ebo Krdum’s life. Growing up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan, his family and friends spoke many languages between them, and the radio played music from all over West, North and East Africa. He now lives in Sweden, having fled war and political upheaval 11 years ago.

In his debut album, the self-styled ‘African blues’ guitarist and singer explores his own personal meaning of diversity – ‘peace and harmony among people despite their differences’ – using eight languages across the 12 tracks to sing about unity, justice, organisation, activism and the fight for peace. Diversity also means that Krdum isn’t fixed to one particular style. There are different influences dotted throughout: some Arabic, some reggae, and a pleasant thread of Scandinvanian folk, courtesy of performance and production from Swedish folk legends including Ale and Anna Möller. There’s also more than a hint of Krdum’s first and largest influence, Ali Farka Touré – in fact, the track ‘Aysé Konga’, appears to be a take on Touré’s classic ‘Ai Du’. Elsewhere, balafon, djembe, calabash and Tuareg-like guitar add more tones and textures that give the album a decidedly West African bent.

With Diversity, Krdum has made a solid debut album, and one that lives up to its title in terms of music, lyrics and philosophy.

Shri Vijaya Vittala: The Musical Pillars of a Medieval Indian Temple

First published on the British Library Sound and Vision blog.



The Shri Vijaya Vittala Temple sits among the breath-taking and sprawling ruins of the ancient city of Hampi, in Karnataka, India. Dedicated to Vittala, a manifestation of the god Vishnu and his avatar Krishna, the temple began construction sometime in the 15th or 16th centuries but was never finished – the city was destroyed in 1565.

Each of the temple’s eight main pillars are surrounded by seven smaller pillars. When these small pillars are struck with the hand or a wooden beater, they ring in a clear, bell-like tone. Not only that, but each pillar in a set is tuned to a different note, meaning that together they sound a scale on which music can be performed.

To read the full blog post and to listen to the recording of the Vittala Temple's musical pillars, head over to the British Library Sound and Vision blog.


Photo: Some of the musical pillars of the Vittala Temple. Photo by Tom Vater’s travel companion Aroon Thaewchatturat.

Parvyn - Sa

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 173, December 2021.

Parvyn
Sa
HopeStreet Recordings (39 mins)

Australian Punjabi singer Parvyn grew up among Sikh devotional music and trained in Hindustani classical music and dance. She began her career on stage with her father Dya Singh’s group, and moved on to be the lead singer of Melbourne’s psychedelic Bollywood big band The Bombay Royale. Now she strikes out on her own with a debut solo album.

Sa follows musical and lyrical ruminations on Parvyn’s past and future through mental health issues, parenthood and immigrant life, the music drawing from two main directions: Indian classical and jazz-angled R&B. Throughout the album, the proportions of these two influences shift one way and the other, but the music is always at its strongest when they balance each other out and Parvyn’s voice blends these two rather different vocal disciplines, such as on ‘Something 29’ and ‘Crossed the Line’. Aside from the intercultural vocal contortions, props also have to be given for some really satisfying production with meaty bass and restrained but effective use of synths and loops.

Sa is the first note of Indian sargam scale, and acts as the root, the beginning and the base: an appropriate name for a debut album that will hopefully stand as a sure footing for future work.

Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno - KWEChE

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 173, December 2021.

Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno
KWEChE
Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno (43 mins)

The nyatiti is an eight-stringed plucked lyre of the Luo people in Kenya. Played in a fast and rhythmic way, the nyatiti can provide a danceable groove; in fact, it’s one of the ancestors of benga music. Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno approaches the nyatiti in a different way.

Hailing from Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya and now based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Otieno plays the nyatiti in a much more introspective way, creating considered and atmospheric moods. On KWEChE, he maintains the instrument’s distinctive timbre, with its subtle buzz on each string, but the music it leads deals with weighty topics based on the cultural differences and adaptations so noticeable within a diaspora community.

For an album based around the nyatiti and Otieno’s high-pitched song, the best moments come when we’re given something a bit different. The track ‘Oyao Tich’, for example, with its lightly Celtic folk fiddle, ‘Buok’ with its Indian bansuri (flute) or the closer ‘Andiwo’ with its more upbeat feel and fresh, airy guitar, all buck the trend and are standout tracks as a result.

It’s great to hear the nyatiti in focus and KWEChE has its moments, but with notable exceptions, it seems to hit the same beats fairly often.

Aynur - WOMEX 21 Artist Award

First published in the WOMEX – World Music Expo 2021 delegate guide.



As both a Kurd and an Alevi, Aynur Doğan’s cultural heritage has always been subject to discriminatory laws and public persecution, whether in the small mountain town of Çemişgezek where she grew up, or the metropolis of Istanbul. With her music, however, singer and bağlama player Doğan – now usually known simply as Aynur – creates space for her identities and for those that share them.

At its core, Aynur’s music is based on Kurdish folk songs. Her voice – in turns bold and powerful or delicate, almost fragile – always holds the 300-year-old melodies in tender embrace. She carries these songs as a caretaker and a friend. She preserves the Kurdish and Alevi songs against those that would have them silenced, but at the same time, those songs give her the strength to continue as a commanding voice in support of those cultures.

Tradition doesn’t restrict Aynur’s music, though. Her own style blends the Anatolian and the Western, and collaborations with world-class musicians from many fields (including Yo-Yo Ma, Kayhan Kalhor, Mercan Dede and Javier Limón) have led to a passionate, international fanbase. Her accessible music allows her to spread her words far and wide.

Her popularity and outspoken nature have made Aynur the target of right-wing and anti-Kurd groups in Turkey. Her shows became marred by disruptions, leading her to move her base to Amsterdam in 2012. This has not dampened her fire: the most recent of her seven albums, 2020’s Hedûr, went to #1 on the world music charts and has led to a concert in Carnegie Hall (understandably postponed for now).

It is for her long-term dedication to the preservation and innovation of Kurdish and Alevi culture and for maintaining the highest artistic integrity even in the face of political pressure that Aynur is a very worthy recipient of the WOMEX 21 Artist Award.


Photo: Aynur receives the WOMEX 21 Artist Award, by Eric van Nieuwland.