|
|
globalFEST 2006: New York's World Music Extravaganza
January 21, 22, 2006
Text and photos by Banning Eyre
The third, annual globalFEST—an extravaganza of 13 acts on three stages in one night at the Public Theatre in New York City—was a peach of a night once again. Actually, two nights, a new and welcome change this year, not only because the event always sells out, but because it offers more than the truly ravenous world music enthusiast can possibly take in during a single evening. The event is a co-presentation of The Public Theatre, New Yorks’s World Music Institute, and Boston’s World Music/CRASHarts, timed to coincide with New York’s annual gathering of arts presenters (APAP), the most high powered pow-wow of potential employers for these artists one could hope to assemble. For festival presenters and club bookers, globalFEST may play as a grueling audition session. For the world music lover, it is simply a feast for the senses.
Afropop Worldwide attended on Saturday night, and as always, gave priority to the African acts, starting with a barnburner set from Daara J. This is at least the third time ’s most visible hip-hop act has played
New York since the release of their brilliant 2003 release
Boo merang (Wrasse Records). Loyal fans are right to crave some new material from these guys, but the group is still electrifying on stage. For this hip-hop skeptic, it was probably the biggest thrill of the night. The fluidity with which the group’s three rappers mix French, English, and Wolof is more than impressive. It’s inspiring. You feel included, ushered into a vibrant, polyglot sphere of the group’s own making. The three front men have perfected a flow of individual and collective performance. Each raps in a distinctive way, and all can come together to sing in glorous harmony, something against the rules in a lot of hip-hop, but a clear strength when done this well.
The same individual/collective flow works with Daara J’s stage choreography. At times, they are three pinballs each in his own orbit. Then, in a flash, they’re a tight unit, circling, leaping in unison, lining up to sing or exchange raps—the picture of order and symmetry. The pace of the show leaves no room for rote or boredom. Even the third time around, the set is a killer. If there’s another African hip-hop group that can connect this well, we have yet to see it. Meanwhile, get these guys in the studio for a new album! They’re ready and so are we.
French flamenco guitarist Juan Carmona (formerly of the group Ketama) began his set with breathtaking solo guitar pieces. When joined by his six-piece group, the textures grew lush and fat, and the tempos varied. One vaguely Arabic ballad was gorgeous, and when the cajon player got up to dance with fierce, minimalist bravado, it brought the house down.
Cape Verde’s Lura delivered the sweetest set of the night. A luminous performer, she warmed the crowd with folksy, tuneful coladeiras, funanas, and her trademark, the romping batuku, a dance of female sexuality from the island of Santiago. Lura moves beautifully and has a winning smile, but the key is her swelling, delicious voice. All of this comes off even better on stage than on her fine, current CD, Di Korpu Ku Alma (Escondida). Lura is ofen touted as the next Cesaria Evora, and while the two singers share a delightful lack of pretension on stage, Lura is really nothing like the “barefoot diva” and grandmother of Cape Verdean folk pop. Lura is young and hot, with just enough modernity in her sound to make it contemporary, not so much as to make it exaggerated or slick, like so much pop from the rocky archipelago. Hopefully success will not spoil her.
The opening moments of Balkan Beat Box’s set provided drama. The New York-based band marched onto the dancefloor with drums and horns before turning over the spotlight first to a solo singer, festooned in colorful robe and singing a warbling Balkan song, then toa belly dancer on stage who lip-synched, grinned, and gyrated to an old Middle Eastern recording. When the band hit with their, playful, groovy blend of funk, ska, klezmer, Balkan music and more, the joy factor rose steadily. I didn’t want to leave, but Mauritania was calling…
Daby Toure of is a product of tragedy (his Mauritanian parents died when he was young), multi-national rearing (he was raised in the mostly Manding south of Senegal and then moved to France), and a front row seat on the coming of age of Afropop (he performed in one formation of the legendary Toure Kunda). With all that in his quiver, he has emerged as a highly original singer-songwriter with a widely praised debut CD, Diam (Real World). In concert, Toure fields a lean, mean power trio, and a more muscular and dynamic sound than on Diam, which tends toward the sensitive and serene. Beads of sweat soon popped from his brow as he clenched his eyes shut and unleashed powerful vocal passion. He coaxed a rich variety and impressive density of sound out of his nylon-string, acoustic-electric guitar, at one point drumming on the strings with polyrhythmic abandon.
Writing in the New York Times, Jon Pareles aptly observed that there was more Sting than Senegal (or Mauritania) in Toure’s sound. Toure is part of a movement of African singers who take a step away from roots and towards singer/songwriter self expression. Think Lokua Kanza on steroids. The movement has merit, and Toure certainly does it proud with dynamism and energy, but on the level of rhythmic variety and richness of sounds, this Afropop redux approach is hard pressed to achieve the emotional impact of the big, traditional modern bands that put West African countries on the international music map in the first place. In fact, whether it’s Daara J’s bandless pageantry, Lura’s folksy intimacy, or Toure’s focused trio presentation, the African entries in this year’s globalFEST underscored the ongoing downsizing of Afropop. The collective ecstasy of a 10-20 piece African band is rarely seen on American stages anymore, and given current trends, that isn’t likely to change any time soon.
The night ended with a spirited DJ mix from DJ Delores from Brazil, a rowdy blend of roots, house, and global pop, much of it grounded in the earthy boom of surdo drums. Those who stayed were understandably ready to let it all out on the dance floor. Long live globalFEST!
Also appearing were Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All Stars (USA), Roxane Butterfly’s Worldbeats (France/USA/Morocco), Niyaz (Iran/India/USA), Steve Riley and Mamou Playboys (USA), Auktyon (Russia), Las Onds Marteles (France), and Keren Ann (France/USA).
Contributed by: Banning Eyre
|
