THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994 TAG: 9406240109
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK MOBLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940625 LENGTH: Medium
America in the '50s?
{REST} Africa in the '90s.
As a clutch of amazing new releases shows, African musicians are making all kinds of records all over the world. A disco diva from Benin records at Prince's Paisley Park studios. An Algerian star puts Arabic vocals on the French charts.
While the world-music section of a record store can be as confusing as a foreign country, the Long Island company Ellipsis Arts has released a welcome African primer. ``Africa: Never Stand Still'' is a three-CD journey across the length and breadth of this musically fertile continent.
South African vocal group and Paul Simon collaborators Ladysmith Black Mambazo are represented, as is Sengalese singer Youssou N'Dour, who has toured with Peter Gabriel. But the real finds are the big bands with grand names, like Chief Doctor Sikuru Ayinde Barrister and Africa's International Music Ambassadors.
Barrister's driving ``Refined Fuji Garbage'' and the joyous ``M'Fomo Yami'' by Papa Wemba of Zaire are exhilarating jams. Like most Western groups, these bands have synthesizers and electric guitars. The difference is live percussion and lots of it. Though Kenya's Kapere Jazz Band is just five guys playing such humble instruments as Fanta soda bottles and metal rings, they groove like nobody's business.
A casual world music fan will be surprised by the variety of styles. The familiar sound of chiming guitars can be heard in a cut by South Africa's Soul Brothers. And Gabon's Pierre Akendengue and the Ndere Troupe of Uganda provide mellow, harp-based songs.
Yet among these 39 tracks are fascinating signs of cross-cultural inspiration. Mauritania's Khalifa Ould Eide and Dimi Mint Abba sing the kind of ornamented Moorish song that inspired flamenco. Kenya's Gabriel Omolo and his Apollo Komesha open their ``Wed Today Divorce Tomorrow'' with a twist rhythm. Latin-flavored contributions from Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde reflect the colonial history of those countries.
Many of the tracks were recorded outside of Africa. The symbol of this internationalism is Salif Keita's anthemic ``Nyanafin,'' taken from his 1991 album ``Amen.'' Joe Zawinul of Weather Report produced the record in Paris and Los Angeles and it has a fusion feel. But the emotion in Keita's magisterial voice sounds as authentic as the Kenyan bottle and ring.
This set includes a 46-page booklet with a generous collection of color photos and informative notes. All that's missing are recording dates and lyrics.
\ Khaled, Kidjo, Toure
One of the most intriguing African singers is mentioned but not featured in ``Africa: Never Stand Still.'' He's the Paris-based Khaled, whose music has enraged Islamic fundamentalists in his native Algeria. He made a memorable ``Tonight Show'' debut last year with Bonnie Raitt producer and bassist Don Was. A Was-produced track from Khaled's self-titled album was the first Arabic-language single to enter the French Top 10.
On his new ``N'ssi N'ssi'' his subject is love thwarted, lost, longed for. The songs blend hip-hop rhythms with Asian strings.
Singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo of Benin is another ``Tonight Show'' veteran. ``Aye,'' her third solo album, continues the cosmopolitan dance-pop of her 1991 ``Logozo.'' ``Aye'' has her working in a Paris studio and at Prince's Paisley Park in Minnesota.
Kidjo's sound is a wall of peppy programmed tracks with her own voice overdubbed for backing vocals. Though she writes ballads with some sweet moments, her strongest work is on dance songs like the chugging, post-James Brown ``Adouma.''
by CNB