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 Th!nk Global: West Africa Unwired (World Music Network RGNET 1169CD, 2006)
Th!nk Global: Bellydance (World Music Network RGNET 1161CD, 2006)
These releases remind me a bit of the pre-CD era when records came packed in cardboard and not much else. World Music Network, already the label behind the fine Rough Guide and Introducing lines, now unveils Th!nk Global, an environmentally and socially conscious series packaged entirely in recycled card (no plastic) and produced in conjunction with two very worthy causes (Amnesty International and Oxfam).
But while you'll be doing right by this planet you call home and its people,
buy these collections for the music.
West Africa Unwired not only features superstars the caliber of
Baaba
Maal,
Boubacar Traoré and
Toumani Diabate, but emerging talents like Gnawa bluesman
Nuru
Kane, Tuareg/Wodaabe band Etran Finatawa (also responsible for one of 2006's best debut CDs) and Senegal's new shining star
Daby
Balde.
Note the "Unwired" of the title- this music is rich with koras, balafons,
n'goni lutes, acoustic guitars, earthy percussion and muezzin-like vocals that
are pure raw brilliance even when a degree ofcontemporary edge (as with Mali's
Issa
Bagayogo) is evident. Absolutely terrific.
The
Bellydance disc is likewise a sumptuous selection of a varied style that has
survived everything from kitschy stereotyping to Islamic fundamentalism. Many of
the best in the raqs sharki business are here, including Egyptian master
percussionist
Hossam Ramzy, Turkish Sufi multi-instrumentalist great
Omar
Faruk Tekbilek and Syria's esteemed Salatin El Tarab Orchestra.
There are both instrumental and vocal pieces, some basking in near-symphonic
lushness, others sparser but no less striking, still others factoring in subtle
Gypsy, jazz and Mediterranean fusion. What's constant is the mosaic of
pan-Arabic percussion, stringed and wind instruments that give every track a
beauty and grandeur that may put you in mind of gyrating midriffs or just send
you blissfully off to a desert dreamland.
Buy
West Africa Unwired and
Bellydance.
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