Funkadesi – Yo Baba
Reviewed by Sadie O., 11/29/08
Indian/Reggae/African mashup with occasionally overly slick production. Very hit and miss, IMO – they can come up with some brilliant mixes of styles, but then one glib element (like the vocoder on track 14) can be a bit of a spoiler. That said, they definitely get points for sincere multiculturalism, and the playing is solid. (My track descriptions are long – but most tracks are fairly complex.)
No FCCs detected. I like first 4 tracks and 7 best.
1. ***starts with fast paced chimes and Jamaican singing. Beat comes in after half a minute – upbeat Cari-Bhangra with sweet female Indian singing. Ends with 30 seconds of random party noises and chimes.
2. ***starts with far away Indian singing, then a bit of squeezebox, then downtempo Bhangra with male Bhangra vocals, but with an overlay of Jamaican riddim and African percussion.
3. ***uptempo and upbeat, Latin-Caribbean groove, lots of percussion and energy, dreamy bits interspersed, vocals in Spanish.
4. ****starts with bits of talking about the recording, then electronics and downtempo Reggae, with quirky bass and guitar, female dancehall vocals in Spanglish, female Indian vocals (from a popular Bollywood movie), male dancehall vocals. Whew!
5. **starts with organ and tabla, then a lovely slow and swingy qawwali with female vocals.
6. **starts with rather mournful electronics and almost sighing female vocals, groovy reggae beat with chimes comes after almost a minute. Indian vocals, very dreamy groove. Male dancehall vocals and more of a party vibe for a bit.
7. ****very brief talking, then downtempo blues/funk with hoarse vocals, very cynical look at disaster response (creation?) in New Orleans. False ending more than a minute from end, then bits of “newscast” and horns. Ends with beatboxing.
8. *starts with solo female Indian qawwali vocals, then slow and downbeat qawwali with somewhat American pop folk overtones, sad love song in English (no doubt dedicated to their band member who died recently.)
9. *flute and spoken intro, then floating electronics and smooth jazz. Cover of the Bob Marley hit with bits of female Indian vocals and other elements. Very smooth and dreamy, except for a bit of nice Indian/African percussion.
10. **downbeat and relaxed Bhangra, female vocals, then dancehall and club vocals. The dhol (big Bhangra drum) is the star here, IMO.
11. *berimbau intro and vocals intro, then pop reggae bubble with various vocals.
12. **Afro/Bhangra drums talking to each other for first half, then upbeat drum jam.
13. **cobbled elements, then very slow and dreamy qawwali with mellow reggae handdrums. Very devotional in tone.
14. **Bhangra dancehall. A bit pop in the production, but a fun mashup and danceworthy. They lose a star for using a goddamn vocoder.
15. **”hiphop” intro, downtempo and downbeat club bhangra. Some Indian and some west coast hip hop vocals.
16. **acoustic folk blues with boppy drums. Nice guitar work, rather silly ending.