This month's World Music Top 20 Chart of the year from the European Broadcast Union features some very interesting music, mainly from Africa, Europe (especially Spain) and Brazil. The February chart was taken from 45 radio DJs from 25 countries across Europe and the Top 20 was selected from 155 nominated recordings; there is no equivalent chart for Asia.
The top spot is taken by Brazilian Criolo who burst on to the international scene in 2011 with his first international release. The new album, Convoque Seu Buda, features an eclectic range of sounds from dub to Brazilian folklore, while upfront rap and poetry provide the narrative drive to his songs. Street-smart and popular in the favelas of Brazil, his music takes on the experiments of 60s and 70s Brazilian popular music (think of tropicalia) and gives them a contemporary twist. Fusion music at its best.
Another notable Brazilian entry in the charts is a women's ensemble called Elas De Minas who reinterpret old Brazilian songs with beautifully rendered vocals and that typical lilting Brazilian accompaniment.
The African contingent on the charts is led by two contrasting Malian musicians, Samba Toure and Boubacar Traore. Samba Toure's music has an edge to it, both lyrically (he writes about recent fighting and the troubles that have beset the landlocked country for the past decade) and with his raw guitar-based sound, while Boubacar Traore is a veteran troubadour-style musician known for his beautiful songs and acoustic guitar (similar in some respects to Senegal's Ismael lo and Angola's Kafala Brothers). Two very different approaches, but each with a distinctive sound.
The other African artists include Tony Allen with his new release Film Of Life, which I have mentioned in previous columns, legendary Malian singer Kasse Mady Diabate's Kirike (Diabate is a veteran singer, regarded as one of Mali's finest vocalists), New York-based Malagasy singer/songwriter Razia who is joined on her release, Akory, by stars like valiha player Rajery, and Ethiopia's Ethiocolor. The latter, a male-female collective has been thrilling audiences with their music for some years, and their self-titled release has been on the charts for some time — well worth checking out.
The most unusual recording on the chart comes from Basque musicians Kepa Junkera and Sorginak of Bilbao, whose performance is based around the trikitixa, the Basque diatonic accordion. The CD comes with a 160-page hardback book on the history of the instrument. More and more CDs are coming out with either extensive album notes or booklets on the background to the music, which I suppose is one way record labels can produce CDs that compete with downloads. Keep a lookout for this one.
Other notable albums on the charts that World Beat readers might like to purchase include A Few Images from iconoclastic Arabic designer and musician Tania Saleh, the wonderful lilting melodies and haunting vocals of Central American artist Aurelio, and the compilation on the late Cuban singer, Abelardo Barroso, Cha Cha Cha.
The most heart-warming story on the charts though comes from the Romanian band Taraf de Haidouks, who all hail from the village of Clejani, just South of Bucharest. Taraf were among the first of the Roma bands to emerge onto the international scene with the explosion of new wave European folk bands from the 90s onwards. After four of the band's main members died, the band disappeared from view but with the introduction of new musicians and support from fans and lovers of the bands lively music, the money for a new album was crowd sourced. I really wish someone in Bangkok would bring this band — and other great middle European bands like Warsaw Village Band — to Bangkok. I live in hope.
The World Beat desk this week received the tragic news that Europe's premier world music magazine, Songlines, has gone into receivership. I've been a contributor to the magazine for more than 15 years, so this is sad news. The good news, however, is that the magazine has been bought by the Mark Allen Group that publishes Gramophone magazine. The magazine will continue to be published and run by the same editorial team led by Simon Broughton.
