http://www.sevara.uz

http://www.myspace.com/sevaramusic

Origine du Groupe : Uzbekistan
Style : Alternative Fusion World Music
Sortie : 2003

by Charlie Gillett from http://www.bbc.co.uk

The past eighteen months have witnessed a spectacular succession of exceptional debut albums by female singers, each with their own unique sound and sense of purpose, including Mariza and Lula Pena (both from Portugal), Souad Massi (Algeria), Sui Vesan(Slovakia) and the Be Good Tanyas (Vancouver, Canada).Here's the latest album to join this exalted company, although pedantic readers may correctly point out that Yol Bolsin is not strictly a debut album.

Sevara Nazarkhan is already famous at home in Uzbekistan, where her songs are played on the radio and her cassettes can be bought in the street markets of Tashkent and Samarkand. But where her own recordings were made solely with local musicians, Yol Bolsin is her first to be produced for Western ears. Its a difficult trick, to protect a distinctive regional style while rendering it accessible to a more general audience, but French studio wizard Hector Zazou has pulled it off here.

This is not an album to set a party alight. But while it is contemplative, its not soporific - there's a groove to most of the tracks, ingeniously woven from Uzbek instruments.The title track, 'Yol Bolsin' stands out. Based on a song dating back to the days of the brigands who preyed on Silk Road travellers, now its message is more benign; its melodies are played by Toir Kuziyev on various string instruments -Turkish saz and Arabic oud, as well as doutar. Its rhythm has a slowed down bo diddley syncopation, and would fit into so many contexts - from Buddha Bar type bistros to adventurous blues-based radio shows.

Look out for Sevara's live shows at the Barbican's Festival of Music from Eastern Europe and Beyond (in May) and at WOMAD Reading (July). She is likely to be among the nominees for Best New Artist and Best Asian Artist at next years Awards for World Music.

 

Tracklist :   
1 - Yor-Yor (Song To The Bride) (4:15)
2 - Soqinomai Bayot (4:53)
3 - Adolat Tanovari (Song Of Adolat) (4:51)
4 - Ei Nozanin (Beautiful) (4:14)
5 - Yol Bolsin (Where Are You Going?) (5:29)
6 - Galdir (6:00)
7 - Moghulchai Navo (Mochul Melody) (5:52)
8 - Gazli (5:36)
9 - Orik Gullaganda (When Apricot Blossoms) (4:52)
10 - Yallajonim (My Dearest Song) (4:15)
11 - Alla (Bahtimga Lullaby) (6:37)

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http://cstrecords.com

http://www.myspace.com/joshuazubot

Origine du Groupe : Canada
Style : Alternative Fusion , World Music , Electro , Acid Jazz , Experimental
Sortie : 2010

Par http://alternativesound.musicblog.fr

2010 touche à sa fin et je m'aperçois que je n'ai parlé de aucun des disques qui sont pour l'instant sur mon podium des albums de l'année. Il est grand temps de rattraper mon retard et de vous parler de "monogamy" du Land Of Kush's Egyptian Light Orchestra. Ca fait environ six mois que je l'ai découvert et que j'essaye d'écrire un petit quelque chose dessus, mais rien à faire, c'est à chaqe fois la page blanche. Pourtant, sur le papier, c'était du pain bénit pour mon blog. Un obscur combo canadien, qui n'a été chroniqué presque nulle part et qui a créé un melting pot musical ne ressemblant à rien de déjà existant.

Land Of Kush est le projet du compositeur Montréalais Sam Shalabi. Pour ce deuxième album, toujours chez le label Constellation, Land Of Kush se voit ajouter Egyptian Light Orchestra à son nom, pour la bonne raison qu'une trentaine de musiciens, dont une bonne partie en provenance d'Afrique du Nord, sont venus participer à ce projet ambitieux.

Comme je vous le disais plus haut, il est assez difficile de décrire la musique de "monogamy". On a ici affaire à un véritable ovni sonore où s'entrecroise post rock, musique orientale et nord africaine, free jazz et expérimentations diverses. Même si la musique du combo canadien n'est pas totalement hermétique, force est de constater que les premières écoutes sont assez déstabilisantes. Surtout que la structure des morceaux est assez complexe et que leur durée est globalement très longue (jusqu'à 17 minutes). "Monogamy" n'est donc pas à mettre entre toutes les oreilles et bon nombre d'auditeurs risquent de le trouver des plus repoussant. Mais une fois qu'on a réussi à s'imprégner de l'univers musical non consensuel du combo, "monogamy" devient très rapidement un disque obsédant dont on n'en finit pas de percer les mystères.

Tracklist :
1. The 1st And The Last
2. Scars
3. Boo
4. Tunnel Visions
5. Fisherman
6. Monogamy
7. Like The Thread Of A Spider

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Origine du Groupe : V.A World
Style : Alternative Fusion , Electro World Music
Sortie : 2003

By http://hadtocallitsomething.blogspot.com

More dub goodness from Youth, as in Youth In Dub, featuring an assortment of chilled dub grooves and some original remixes by Youth.

Tracklist :
01. Celtic Raga's - Bjhanji (Youth Remix) (5:06)
02. Clive De Carle Pres. New World Orchestra - Tea Time In Bengal (4:25)
03. Youth vs. Coldcut - Sahara Orchid Dub (5:47)
04. Abakus Feat. Ranajit Sengupta - California Sunshine (6:44)
05. United States Of Dub - Tiger Moon (5:16)
06. The Kumba Mela Experiment Feat. Brother Culture - Junkie Deluxe (4:39)
07. Pitch Black - Melt (Youth Remix) (6:20)
08. Brother Culture - Turn It Around (Youth Remix) (6:06)
09. The Kumba Mela Experiment Feat. Brother Culture - Peace And Love (Groove Corporation Remix) (10:42)
10. Ranajit Sengupta - Secret Ragas (6:13)

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http://www.dubreality.com

Origine du Groupe : V.A World
Style : Alternative Fusion World Music , Dub
Sortie : 2010

INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE is a revolutionary musical collective creating crucial pan global collaborations between indigenous cultures from the jungles, favelas and barrios with those in the industrialized world who work their musical magic in mixing studios and on laptops. IR releases are completely autonomous self-funded works achieved through barter, little money, but an abundance of commitment and co-operation.

To extend the music out from the indigenous ghettos, IR has created a new model of partnership between indigenous people and western artists. This runs counter to the "ROCK STAR MODE" (i.e., Sting, Paul Simon) of portraying exotic indigenous people who are in need of rock stars to accomplish anything of importance and are incapable of independent self-directed actions but excellent for photo ops standing besides the liberal-leaning pop idols.

IR runs counter to trend of trying to this exotification of the indigenous in our collaborations. IR works with indigenous people who live and fight in the jungles for their freedom, we also acknowledge and work with the thousands of indigenous people who live in the favelas (poor areas) of Brazil's major cities like Sao Paulo. These include indigenous computer wizards...Hackers. The image of indigenous people being proficient with computer programming is counter to the current exotic image of indigenous people." IR originates out of the so called "third" and "fourth" world. (Fourth world was a term coined by indigenous activist George Manuel to describe indigenous territories worldwide.) Resourcefulness and ingenuity are the essence of our work as we often work without what many in the "first" world take for granted, like money, stable electricity, instant electronic communication…for a start.

IR also stands for indigenous reality, creating works that show the world of the indigenous as they really are, not the manufactured photo ops published in the mainstream press.

by http://www.cdbaby.com

Tracklist :   
1. Ivere...The Land [Soy Sos Mix] 4:01
2. The Land Is Not for Sale [Atenco Emergency Instrumental Mix] 5:14
3. Luana [Soy Sos Mix] 4:59
4. Brothers and Sisters [DeederZaman's Burning Babylon Mix] 4:16
5. Galdino Pataxo Warrior [Sawandi's Defiance In the Shadows Mix] 6:10
6. She's Crying for Many [Freshmint Mix] 1:46
7. Sacred Power [Dr Das Ragga Mix] 4:18
8. Krikati [Steven Stanley Empowerment Mix] 3:05
9. Galdino Truth Is What We Need [A Delroy "Fatta" Pottinger Dub Mix] 4:15
10.Galdino Jesus Dos Santos 2010 [D. Watts Riot Mix] 5:10
11.Continue To Fight [Ramjac's Gloriously Funky Mix] 5:27
12.Galdino 2010 [Adrian Sherwood Karaoke Mix] 3:08

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http://www.fishtankensemble.com

http://www.myspace.com/fishtankensemble

Origine du Groupe : North America
Style : World Music , Jazz Manouche , Swing , Folk , Folklore , Alternative , Instrumental
Sortie : 2010

After reviewing or critiquing god knows how much music over the last five years I've discovered a pattern I tend to fall into. Although there are a few performers I've followed for years and will continue to do so because of their ability to keep their work fresh by continually discovering new ways of presenting their ideas, too often a person or group will be initially exciting only to end up being disappointing by sticking to the same formula repeatedly. While I can understand the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality to a certain extent, in my opinion when it comes to the creative process that only leads to stagnation and boredom. There are more times than I'd like to count over that I've been really excited by the first couple of discs a performer or group have put out to only become frustrated and bored with them by the third disc when they continue to do the same thing over and over again.

As a result I've been reviewing a lot less music of late. It just seems harder and harder to find somebody or some band interesting enough to even give a listen to, let alone review. Maybe part of the problem is the number of press releases finding their way into my inbox on a daily basis using the same group of adjectives to describe whatever genre of music they happen to be promoting. Everybody, from blues to death metal, seem to be fresh and exciting, or at the very least invigorating. So many bands are being described as alternative these days I'm falling back on Ellen Page's line in her roller derby movie Whip It and asking "Alternative to what?" How can you be alternative when you sound like a thousand other bands out there?

Thankfully I tend to exaggeration. If the scene were as bad as I describe it sometimes I think I'd blow my brains out. There are still bands and musicians out there who provide genuine alternatives to the mind-sapping pabulum that passes for popular music on the radio these days. One who I've just been fortunate enough to stumble across are a four-piece outfit who go by the really odd name of The Fishtank Ensemble. They've just put out their third release - on their own label - called Woman In Sin, and I can guarantee you'll be hard pressed to find a more eclectic collection of songs gathered onto one CD anywhere. The lead singer, Ursula Knudson, used to sing opera; violinist Fabrice Martinez is from Paris and studied with gypsy violinists across Europe; guitarist Doug Smolens used to hang out with Billy Idol and Slash before becoming hooked on flamenco and running off to Spain to learn from masters in the caves around Granada; while Djordje Stijepovic started playing bass with local Romany bands in Serbia when he was 13 until moving to the US where he joined a band with Lemmy from Motorhead and Slim Jim Phantom from the Stray Cats.

Okay, so these folk have been around a bit and bring some pretty strange influences to the table with them, but how does it all blend together and are they any good? Where to start? I've listened to the disc three times now and each time I've come away even more amazed than I was the previous time. I could tell you about Knudson's incredible range as a vocalist — how she can soar right up the scale and sing scat up there that will put your heart in your throat and then turn around and growl her way through a rendition of "Fever" that will leave you so hot and bothered a cold shower won't help. I could also tell you how Stijepovic's bass accompaniment on that song will make you think he's channeling Charlie Mingus and how he can also play slap bass in a way that you've never heard before, and might not ever again, when he leads the group through a Balkan dance number called "Djordje's Rachenitza".

Then there are the two lead instruments... well, at least in most bands you would consider the guitar and violin the leads, but here they are content to be equal members of the band. Either Smolens or Martinez could easily dominate any ensemble they played with, they are such virtuosos, and on the pieces where they step forward you can't help but let your jaw drop at their playing. However what impressed me the most about the two of them was their versatility. There are many violinists and guitarists who can play one, maybe two, and even sometimes three different styles of music well, but these two seem able to handle anything you can think of. Torch songs, flamenco, gypsy tear-the-floor-up dance music, jazz standards, and the rest of their repertoire are all played with an ease that's not only deceptive but mind-boggling when you realize their complexity. In fact they're both almost too good for their own good. They are so effortless in their playing you can almost miss noticing their excellence.

Most of the time when you hear a band being described as world music it usually means they play something that's not recognized as being pop music within our limited definition of that term. The Fishtank Ensemble actually do play world music as they are inspired by not only their different nationalities but an international variety of musical interests. While one song might sound like it comes from a demented cabaret populated by characters from a Kurt Weill opera, another is redolent with the raw, naked passion of loss you'll only hear in the truest and scariest flamenco, and a third has echoes of a rain-swept street in late night Paris. From small mountain villages in the Balkans to the urban sharpness of a hot jazz spot, The Fishtank Ensemble will take you on a musical odyssey that will leave your head spinning and your heart soaring.

I listened to my first pop record back in 1965 when a babysitter played me her daughter's 45 of the Beatles' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". In the interim 45 years I've heard more music than I can possibly remember because the majority of it has been forgettable. Every so often, though, a musician or band has come along that won't let me forget them because of what they do and how they do it. For me it's always been those bands who don't adhere to any set pattern and are always pushing themselves off into new directions who leave the greatest impression. With their first release The Fishtank Ensemble have shown that they are not only gifted musicians but also unafraid to take risks. That has the potential to be a memorable combination — we can only hope they're able to maintain what they've started.

Author: Richard Marcus — Published on http://blogcritics.org/music

Tracklist :
01. Woman In Sin (2:37)
02. Espagnolette (2:07)
03. After You've Gone (4:05)
04. Am Furat De La Haidouks (6:52)
05. Fever (4:10)
06. Djordje's Rachenitza (5:04)
07. Pena Andaluz (4:12)
08. CouCou (3:05)
09. Kolo Suite (6:01)
10. O Dewel (4:32)
11. Opa Opa (4:01)
12. Nedim (5:03)

 

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