Note :

http://www.mdungu.com

http://www.myspace.com/mdungu

Origine du Groupe : Netherlands , Mali

Style : Alternative Fusion World , Afrobeat , Jazz , Funk

Sortie : 2009

Tracklist :

01. Afro What!?
02. Boolow Gambia
03. Slow Music
04. Confusion
05. Pick Up
06. Walk To Togo
07. Kabbaya
08. Mali Express
09. Rio Nights
10. Paps Toure

Composé de huit musiciens venus des quatre coins de la planète mais qui opèrent tous aux Pays-Bas, Mdungu mélange, depuis sa création en 2003, les influences de la musique des griots maliens, de l'afrobeat nigérian et du mbalax sénégalais en y ajoutant quelques touches de jazz, de rock et de funk.

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Note :

http://www.sadingding.co.uk/zh-hans

http://www.myspace.com/dingdingsa

Origine du Groupe : China

Style : Electro World , Alternative

Sortie : 2010

Tracklist :
1.Ha Ha Li Li
2.Girl In A Green Dress
3.Hua
4.Pomegranate Woman
5.Blue Horse
6.Yun Yun Nan Nan
7.Xi Carnival
8.Little Tree/Big Tree
9.Lucky Day
10.Xi Ran Ning Po - Introspection
11. Famous Friends (Ha Ha Lili Remix)
12 Matta Dub (Ha Ha Lili Remix)
13.Ha Ha Li Li - (Paul Oakenfold Remix)

Une voix cristalline qui invite au voyage, des arrangements électroniques souvent réussis et subtils, et une large place laissée à des instruments traditionnels chinois qui y trouvent un nouvel espace d’expression. Voilà les ingrédients qui donnent toute sa saveur à la musique de Sa Dingding qui, pour ce deuxième album (天地合 – Harmony), affiche de véritables ambitions internationales. Et, clairement, elle a les moyens de ses ambitions. D’ailleurs, Ian Ashbridge, le patron du label Wrasse Records, ne s’y est pas trompé et s’est empressé de signer la jeune Chinoise pour le marché européen. Ce qui l’a attiré chez elle ? Ian Ashbridge : « Je pense qu’elle fait une musique unique. Elle a des influences tibétaines, chinoises, une vraie sensibilité orientale et en même temps, ses groupes préférés sont Nine Inch Nails et les Chemical Brothers » (Le Matin).

Après un premier album (万物生 – Alive, paru fin 2007) plus intimiste mais qui indiquait déjà sa propension à rehausser une instrumentation traditionnelle de pulsions électroniques ainsi que sa faculté à varier les atmosphères et les registres (d’une folk ancestrale et profonde à une pop plus légère), Sa Dingding s’est offert cette fois les services du fameux producteur anglais Marius de Vries. Sans échapper, çà et là, à quelques  petits effets “variétoches” malheureux, cette collaboration aboutit à ce qui peut être considéré, dans l’ensemble, comme un des plus bels exemples de rencontre réussie de deux univers fort différents. Et on ne pense pas ici seulement à la rencontre entre Orient et Occident, mais aussi et avant tout au métissage d’une musique dite “du monde” avec une sensibilité pop-rock plus exacerbée, ou encore au dialogue savoureux entre instruments traditionnels et machines modernes. La grande force de Sa Dingding est de parvenir à maintenir ce délicat équilibre entre tradition et modernité.

Celle que les médias ont rapidement surnommée la “Björk asiatique” (à tort, mais les journalistes ont toujours besoin de se raccrocher à ce qu’ils connaissent) représente l’archétype même de la rencontre des traditions. De sang à la fois han et mongol, elle chante en mandarin, en sanscrit, en tibétain, en anglais ainsi que dans un langage imaginaire. Elle maîtrise par ailleurs plusieurs instruments traditionnels d’origine chinoise, tels le guzheng (instrument à cordes pincées) et le matouqin (instrument à cordes frottées).

Dansant par moments, plus posé à d’autres, voire presque méditatif, 天地合 – Harmony se distingue par la richesse de ses arrangements, richesse qui met particulièrement en valeur des mélodies addictives. L’oreille occidentale n’a aucune difficulté à pénétrer l’univers musical de Sa Dingding. En même temps, la prépondérance d’instruments traditionnels et l’usage des langues chinoise, sanscrite et tibétaine ajoutent une dimension de mystère et d’exotisme. À telle enseigne qu’il se dégage de ce très bel album un sentiment d’ “étrange familiarité”, ou un sentiment d’ “étrangeté familière”.

par Sylvain Isaac

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Note :

http://www.rimbanna.com

http://www.myspace.com/4rimbanna

Origine du Groupe : Palestine , Syria

Style : Alternative Fusion World , Pop

Sortie : 2009

Tracklist :
1 April blossoms     
2 New moon     
3 The sheperd     
4 Silver fountain     
5 The kitten didi     
6 Sleep, Dolly, sleep     
7 Raindrops on my window     
8 Today is my birthday     
9 The clock     
10 In our orchard     
12 Our donkey     
13 When we become a little bigger     
14 Kul kbeibeh     
15 Mum, you are the dearest     
16 Happy lesser bairam feast     
17 Christmas feast     
18 Baylassan     
19 A sand house     
20 Nura

Rim Banna, a Palestinian singer from Nazareth, presents poignant and humorous children's songs on April Blossoms. Rim's voice is aided with bass guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, keyboards, bansuri flute, duduk, and oud. All the songs are sung in Arabic. However, song translations are provided from Arabic to English in the liner notes. The songs are so enjoyable that you need not be a child to appreciate it's musical intricacies. Overall, the melodies and vocalizations are reminiscent of North African singers, in particular, Mauritania's Malouma. A children's choir accents some of the songs. Perhaps, the Arabic songs take on a life of their own and instill in the listener a deep level of appreciation. Also, Russian and Turkic elements appear from time to time throughout the album. This is an ideal collection of songs to listen to while relaxing, or spending time with family. April Blossoms is as sweet as it sounds, and it gets sweeter with every listen.

~ Matthew Forss

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Note : +

http://www.rodrigoleao.pt

http://www.myspace.com/rodrigoleo

Origine du Groupe : Portugal

Style : Ambient, Down-tempo, Chillout, Mod-folk, Contemporary, Piano, Experimental

Sortie : 2004

Tracklist :

01 Cinema 2:41
02 Rosa 4:05
03 Lonely Carousel (feat. Beth Gibbons) 3:34
04 A Comédia de Deus 3:24
05 Jeux D’amour 4:13
06 Memórias 3:36
07 A Cidade Queimada 1:20
08 Deep Blue 4:10
09 Uma História Simples 1:53
10 Happiness 3:12
11 O Último Adeus 1:36
12 La Fête 3:19
13 A Estrada 2:59
14 L’Inspecteur 4:11
15 António 4:19

Rodrigo Leão is a Portuguese musician and composer. He was born in Lisbon in 1964. He became known for his musical compositions and participation in Portuguese bands such as Madredeus and Sétima Legião. He co-founded the band Sétima Legião in 1982 and Madredeus in 1985. As his solo career began to take shape, he chose to suspend his participation with the respective bands in 1993 and 1994. His solo work explores a combination of modern-classic compositions with more traditional song format and instrumentation. Several artists have participated in both his records and tours, such as Lula Pena or Adriana Calcanhotto in Alma Mater and Beth Gibbons and Ryuichi Sakamoto in Cinema. His album, Cinema, was very successful in the Portuguese market, reaching #1 in sales and its promotion concerts in Portugal and Spain were frequently sold-out. In this album, the eclectic roots of his music and the influence of cinema can be appreciated. Ana Vieira is the new member of the group providing the vocals.Neil Hannon participated in the album A Mãe of Rodrigo Leão and Cinema Ensemble..

wikipedia

Note : +

http://www.burkina-electric.com

http://www.myspace.com/burkinaelectric

Origine du Groupe : Burkina Faso , North America

Style : Electro World , Fusion , Alternative

Sortie : 2010

Tracklist :

01. Gom Zanga 5:23

02. Sankar Yaarй 5:32
03. Naab Koobo 4:55
04. Mdolй 5:37
05. Ligdi 6:37
06. La Voix Du Boulgou 5:38
07. Bobo Yenguй 5:01
08. To Mi To Zi 5:49
09. Saaga 5:45

10. Nongui Taaba 5:53
11. Bana 4:51
12. Ca Va Chauffer 6:24

Burkina Electric’s PR hook is that they are Burkina Faso’s (a land-locked West African nation formerly known as Upper Volta) first electronica band. This ignores several inconvenient points; that most of the band lives most of the time in Brooklyn and one member lives in Germany, that Burkina Faso has a robust hip hop scene that is no stranger to electronic beats, and that electronica has to be one of the most meaningless tags on earth. But the group’s name does clue you in to their music’s rootedness in the traditions of Burkina Faso, the homeland of four of BE’s members, and their predominantly plugged-in sound.

Percussionist/composer/improviser Lukas Ligeti (son of Gyorgy) is the group’s lynchpin; he and German electronician (and D.A.F./Der Plan vet) Kurt “Pyrolator” Dahlke had first met BE’s Burkinabè (denizens of Burkina) during a 1994 sojourn in the Ivory Coast, and gave them all a call a decade later when an Austrian cultural organization invited him to put a tour together that involved electronics and the music of Burkina Faso. They gelled on that tour and ultimately solidified into a six-piece group that includes Ligeti, Pyrolator singer Maï Lingani, guitarist Wende K. Blass, background singer-dancers “As” Zoko Zoko and “Vicky” Idrissa Kafando.

Burkina Electric consider themselves “post-intercultural,” a notion that nicely skirts familiar Afro-pop paradigms. The African musicians aren’t hired hands backing well-heeled Westerners, nor are they required to adhere to old-fashioned traditional styles that no one wants to hear back home, nor have they gone to Paris to try and cramp their styles into an existing World Music marketing niche. BE’s music sounds like the outcome of a free exchange between the non-Africans, who handle all the keyboards and rhythms, Lingani’s flexible, poly-lingual singing, and Wende’s son-of-soukous picking. Ligeti is sufficiently steeped in African rhythm lore to keep the music from sounding like a streamlined hybrid. In fact, the grooves are least interesting when they are most obviously Western, such as the drably familiar slow-jam “Saaga” and the gaseous electro-funk beat that dominates the first part of “Ligdi.” “Ca Va Chauffer,” on the other hand, feels like a genuine mix, especially during the break where layers of hand percussion overlay the thumping bass and lilting guitar, and “Sankar Yaaré” achieves a similarly successful mix with punched-in guitar samples.

Paspanga is a pretty choppy listen and at best a qualified success, but it wouldn’t be nearly as appealing with any other singer. Lingani not only sounds equally committed to the adapted traditional folk tales and the would-be dance-club bangers, she’s got the chops to authoritatively deliver both and the charisma to make you pay attention. She can’t save every dud, but she never sounds like she doesn’t believe in what she’s doing.

By Bill Meyer

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