Umoya – Tribal Beatz of Africa
Reviewed by Sadie O., 12/7/06
Exploration of African music by some well-known popularizers of World/African music. It’s very scholarly and carefully produced, and between that and the (IMO) obtrusive synthesized strings it lacks the spark and naturalism of home-grown African music. Lots of excellent musicianship, but I’m not sure what we’re trying to get at, here. It’s like they took World-beat Afro-pop and tried to make it into elevator music. Still, there are some very nice bits – I like tracks 9 and 13-15. Several tracks would get another star from me if they left off the synthesized strings, which just kill the vibe for me…
1. starts with a rather trance-like repeated drumbeat, adds layers of sounds (including synthesized strings, which I think detracts) and choir. Ugandan origin.
2. **Starts with bit of flute and whistles, adds uptempo drums, then bass and rather melancholy synthesized strings – although voices and other instruments are upbeat. Somewhat cinematic effect in places, nice bass groove in others. Togo/Ghana origin.
3. ***slow funky groove, based on Malian rhythm. Cool, relaxed vibe, pretty choir. Nice bit of interaction between thumb-piano sort of thing and bass.
4. **Johnny Clegg solo number in Zulu (he plays all instruments). Mellow and folky, but with a pleasant beat, and he has an impeccable grasp of Zulu singing.
5. *Pretty solo female vocals with a bit of hand percussion, annoying synthesized strings which thankfully quit early and let the drums and bass take over, which improves things exponentially. Ends with solo vocals again.
6. **guitar and mellow midtempo loping groove. Based on Shanga tradition from Mali, with rather overly sweet vocals and very nice guitars.
7. ***nice guitar intro, downtempo Zulu piece with nice deep male vocals and guitar, shouts of cowherders in background. Weird spacey synthesized bit in middle.
8. Starts with a lot of soft spinner/whistles and rainstick. Adds guitar and handclaps and those goddamned synthesized strings. Midtempo and trancey. Nice vocal bits.
9. ****midtempo loping drums and vocalized beats, based on West African rhythm.
10. **solo talking drum intro, other instruments layer in, downtempo Yoruba-based groove. Nice bells, guitar and bass – crap synth…
11. **cool midtempo Mandingo/Mali groove with terrific running bassline and lots of happy-sounding voices.
12. **random drumbeat intro, very downtempo and downbeat shuffle based on Shangaan rhythm from South Africa. Bass and drums predominate, with some vocal chorus.
13. ****oooh, big drumline intro hooks me right off – midtempo dancing march with great jazzy bass. Nice!
14. ****almost whispered male chanting, voices added, then loping midtempo Mandingo-based choral song with sweet South African guitars, cool bass and drums.
15. ****big brass band from Cape Town, Carneval vibe. Drumline marching/dancing drums and that great bass – cool. Random street celebration noises for last several seconds.