More Africa In Us

Afrofest yesterday. Roger Humbert of The Live Music Report sizes up the ever-increasing crowd.

Thanks for the post title, Eccodek... it's true.

My favourite weekend of the year - Afrofest weekend - started yesterday. As an early celebration, I was very pleased to write about the festival's 20th anniversary for Eye Weekly.

As I've said many times before, Music Africa has overcome many, many struggles to succeed as an arts organization. Other arts groups can learn a lot from their story.

Afrofest is on the short list of things that make Toronto special. You'll never encounter another crowd like this anywhere. What makes this festival different from, say, Harbourfront, is that it's a ground-up festival. I love Harbourfront's programming, but it's well-funded with a lot of human resources and strong links to the biggest media in this town. Afrofest has none of these, and as a result a strong community feeling pervades Queens Park every year; it's a sense that everybody there makes the festival better by their mere presence.

It's the only event I've been to which is equally fun for families, couples and singles. Moreover, I always dug the family vibe long before I had a daughter - kids and adults groove to the same music, and usually the kids set the pace for the whole experience by being the first dancers in front of the stage.

P.S. Best food EVER this year. Srsly. Make sure you wash it down with some fiery ginger juice from Amazones.

Once again, I'm looking forward to helping out with CIUT's broadcast today from 1-7PM. Come by and say hello.

Abstract Index Playlist - May 28/08

This is my 200th post, so I'm going to inflict some self-indulgence on you.

I don't know to what extent I've tipped my favourite bands/artists are over these past two and a half years. That said, the only artist to have a label is James Brown. But it's time to create another label for the Brotherhood of Breath.

I've said it before.... blah blah blah ferocious intensity... uplifting, funky Kwela melodies and rhythms... freedom and grooves. Jazz impresario Ronnie Scott says it best at the beginning of the podcast 'simply one of the most exciting bands I've ever heard'. Cuneiform Records broadens the legacy of this unique band with each successive release of unreleased live recordings. Eclipse At Dawn may be the best of the bunch.

Surprisingly, Mongezi Feza (the South African Don Cherry and then some) is not in the lineup on this date, November 4, 1971 in Berlin. Fortunately, this allows less heralded trumpeters Harry Beckett and (especially) Marc Charig and to add different colors. The twin pit bull attack of Dudu Pukwana and Gary Windo on alto and tenor respectively always ensures that there are higher heights to be reached through collective improv than anyone thought possible. Chris McGregor's piano is more assertive than usual, at least in the first half of the concert; he seems pretty enthused by the set judging from his acknowledgment to the crowd at the end of the disc.

As with any Brotherhood release, there are some dry spells and rough patches, but that's free music for you: the highs are well worth it. The crowd can't get enough and neither can I.

nick tete - brotherhood of breath (cuneiform)
druse dubke - damien nisenson (ambiances magnetiques)
i've just destroyed the world i'm living in - reveries (rat drifting)
pisandose la cola - los blops (normal)
wtfs - fred fisher (vampisoul)
i did it again - jesse henderson (counterpoint)
my dear - NOMO (ubiquity)
reggae land dub - tony allen rmx by warrieka hill (honest jons)
concrete heart - sandro perri/tony dekker (no label)
when you live in mexico - ryan driver (rat drifting)
woula bara diagna - oumou sangare (nonesuch)
kel tamascheck - etran finatawa (riverboat)
very 1 - lucky dragons (marriage)
planet mars dub - ice breakers vs. mighty diamonds (virgin)
the weed song - daddy rings (African glory)
peace and love - dubmatix feat. linval thompson (7 arts)
put down the gun - king ujah (king ujah)
african satellite dub - the interrupter (tanty)
let me dub - gg all stars (heartbeat)
the half - sugar minott (heartbeat)
what kind of world - the cables (studio one)

Abstract Index Playlist - January 24/07

Cecil Taylor is often described as playing the piano as if it was 88 tuned drums. Look no further than the molten Irene Schweizer/Hamid Drake duet that kicks off "Live in Willisau and Taktlos" for exhibit B. Schweizer, one of the vital but unfortunately lesser known figures in European free jazz of the last 30 years, throws it all on the table. She was once a Taylor disciple and there are many sections of this 21 minute piece where the affinity is strong. She's not as cluster oriented; her melodies are discernable and rhythms have a tendency to settle into more pulsating motifs. She is also heavily indebted to South African melody, with Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo as inspirations and collaborators - it seems that anyone who ever played with the South African exiles once known as the Blue Notes was profoundly affected by them.
Schweizer excels in the duo format, as evidenced by Intakt's retrospective sampler from 2 years ago which reissued duets with Gunter Sommer, Moholo, Andrew Cyrille and many more. She's got huge ears (not literally) and can thrust and parry with anyone she meets up with - often her duet partners bring something unexpected even from their own repertoire. That's certainly the case with Drake here. He's an astonishing drummer, with unbelievable funk - which definitely comes into play in the last 1/3 of this piece - but what is most amazing in this piece is his melodic sense. The first ten minutes sees both players sketching along the margins of a shared rhythm, with lightning fast push and pull. Then, both go for the gutbucket in the latter part and meld one crunchy rhythmic vamp into another. And THEN Fred Anderson (dig the Bears boosterism on the Velvet Lounge site...) joins in for the rest of the disc, and it's a whole different story.

For those who think that European jazz is too cerebral...

a former dialogue - irene schweizer/hamid drake (intakt)
brekete takai - trevor watts moire music drum ensemble (ecm)
ye jawani hai mera jaan - mohammed rafi & asha bhosle/sonik-omi (normal) more about this next week...
rocky and perri - snowboy (ubiquity)
chocolate - grupo fantasma (airesol)
atlantic rising - sunship ensemble (do right)
pogo nuevo - rise ashen (fossil fuel)
hidden secret - neon tetra (noise factory)
m.o.a.b. - the eternals (aesthetics)
forobana (from "midnight in mali") - habib koite etc. (sterns)
saa magni - oumou sangare (nonesuch)
de trei ani nu dau pe acasa - dona dumitru siminica (asphalt tango)
revolution version - sly and robbie/dennis brown (pressure sounds)
walking on the edge (live) - dub syndicate (on-u)
toromata - nova lima (mr. bongo)
step and respect - polycubist (skor)
shaka zulu - twilight circus/ranking joe (m)
eden dub - prince jammy (csa)
all for free - tafari syndicate (pressure sounds)