Tartit – Abacabok
Reviewed by Sadie O., 11/22/06
Tuareg band doing seriously Saharan music. Men and women, drums and clapping, acoustic and occasionally electric instruments. Often very trance-y, with a heartbeat or loping rhythm. Extremely “roots”!
No FCCs – nothing in English. I rather arbitrarily like 9 best.
1. 4:53 ***solo plucked intrument, other instruments join gradually. Beat comes in at about 40 seconds in, very downtempo and trance-y, at a camel’s pace. Male wailing and female responses, very complex rhythm.
2. 5:22 ***a bit downtempo, with somehow a bit of the feel of a cowboy ballad. Males and females alternate the same vocal lines.
3. 4:16 **somewhat uptempo loping drumming, female call and response.
4. 5:03 *solo violinish instrument, slow lone drum and clapping, female call and response. All fairly “offkey”…
5. 4:31 ***pretty stringed instruments, somewhat uptempo drums, although the beat is a bit complex to get a groove on. Male singing and female response. False ending, and then comes back at a real gallop.
6. 2:58 **somewhat uptempo beat, lots of instruments and female call and response, somehow both a gallop and a trance groove.
7. 5:32 **stringed instrument duet, slow and subdued drums, female vocals with male solo singer joining partway through.
8. 4:58 *a few seconds near silence, uptempo beat fades in slowly, almost like a flock of bees approaching, very hummy, trance-y stuff. Electronica/experimental folks, take heed!
9. 4:45 ****solo electric stringed instrument, male vocals and female response, downtempo loping rhythm, easy to like.
10. 5:51 **minimalist slightly downtempo beat, spoken male vocals. Beat changes, stringed instruments do something complex, female singing and more instrumentation.
11. 5:53 solo flute and odd and trance-y female vocal duet, often offkey…
12. 5:52 *** electric guitar and downtempo beat, occasional male vocals.
13. 2:03 near silence at start, solo violinish instrument fades up very slowly, fades out almost equally slowly.