song for the berber woman

berber women in parts of africa are restricted from dancing, or must do so on their knees.

we may feel outrage at this, but how about resrictions we put on ourselves? i for one have spent so much of my life containing myself.

i've restricted words, movements, emotions, covered myself up, locked myself in... you name the cage, i've built and lived in it.

yet recently i've felt distrust melt into innocent friendliness. opinions loosen into open-mindedness. and stiffness flower into the most oddly refreshing movement... like learning to walk for the first time.

discussing this with one of my teachers, i mentioned the idea of swirling with the sufis. his response was that even this would limit; that i should instead find a forest and let the natural world move me.

and here deep in the forest what music would rattle through my head, pour out of my ears and echo through the trees? something berber, no doubt.

listen: abdelli - amazine (moonlight):


or perhaps:

• nitin sawhney - moonrise
  
• bruknahm project - siba dub plate
  
• rahat fateh ali khan - o re piya
  
• diego stocco - music from a tree

find out more at www.abdelli.com

novalima

a few weeks ago i did something i don't do enough of and checked out a little-known band at a local music venue.

novalima is a multi-member outfit based in peru. my friend jc returned from a visit to lima in 2007 with novalima's eponymous (and rare, to my dismay) debut cd. it quickly fell on heavy rotation, bringing some heat and spice into the dying days of my winter... i've lost the cd and long to hear novalima again...

their first toronto gig was not something i wanted to pass up.

the latin-loving lula lounge was a hot, packed, sweating room throbbing with the deep polyrhythmic syncopations of this talented crew... and a whole lot of boogy-ing fans. the stage was almost too small but no lie, they made some big sound. the best way i can describe it is a groove-salsa-meets-conscious-electronic-dub-pounding-hop.

i had fun.

and until i get my hands on their first cd (rafael - if you're reading, send it on!), this will have to do...

novalima - ruperta/puede ser:


novalima - africa landó:

PS - i got them... thank you rafael...

related to this:

• up, bustle + out - all out king
  
• amadou + miriam feat. manu chao - senegal fast food
  
• hanine y son cubano - arabo-cuban improvisation

you can find this at www.novalima.net

bach to bellydance to

anjelika akbar - çöl gülü

turkish classical pianist anjelika akbar brings together diverse musicians from her homeland to create bach à l'orientale. everything from the composer's famously dark toccata to st. matthew's passion to the well-tempered clavier and concerto for viola and orchestra are showcased here... with a lot more than a little turkish delight layered on top.

on çöl gülü, or "desert rose" anjelika caresses the keys beautifully conveying bach's little prelude in c-minor. starting off without a care in the world, the piece slowly grows in intensity. passion mounts. a doumbek (turkish hand drum) enters the soundscape, then another, then a second set of keys, all swirling. a man cries out. the keys pound out the melody as if possessed. so good you close your eyes and drown in it.

ah the melodrama.

anjelika akhbar - çöl gülü:


related to this:

• uakti - minimal 13 m1
  
• hanine y son cubano - arabo-cuban improvisation
  
• peter gabriel - with this love
  
• nina simone - sinnerman
  

drum thing in the air tonight

i've always loved phil collins' in the air tonight. mostly its tom tom drum - the dark, ominous beating heart that explodes a good three minutes deep into the track in an angry face off against cowardice and evil.

it's this sound that floats me back in history to when the first people of this land used drums that sound like this to communicate, to signal, to pow-wow, to live by. a skin, broad diameter, pounded steadily with a mallet.

and i can only guess that it's this sound that also caught the ear of house music guru and ifá priest, osunlade. the yoruba records boss polished up the sound and layered polyrhythms over top in his remix release, the backside of which is an instrumental dub.

thanks to jez proctor and his project innersounds, for weaving side b over a with a surprise horn, piano and cymbal-laden crescendo that pours back into to collins' original backbeat before it flies off.

i smile and think that eshu - yoruba god of spiritual justice - should be pleased...

phil collins - in the air tonight (yoruba soul mix) side a/b edit:

13.1 heliocentrics - sirius b

so there's more where that came from...

heliocentrics - siris b:


related:

• heliocentrics - once upon a time
  
• pyro music