It's been a while since I actually wrote about any recordings in RP3, so I thought this should be the month. I'll just randomly tell you about some of the great cross-cultural fusions and home grown sounds that have passed through here since the summer. You can witness recent efforts by Youssou N'Dour and other African pop stars as pretty good evidence, as well as a plethora of American bands who call themselves multi-cultural because they copped some licks from a few N'Dour records and learned a few nifty drum rhythms from a book. But there are plenty of genuine explorers out there, musicians who approach their work as art first, and commodity only in the back wash.
Morocco is where black Africa meets Arabic in full effect.
For centuries, as slaves, refugees and migrants, Ghanaians, Malians and Guineans have brought their music to the Mediterranean, where it met Arab, European and Asian language and art. The trance music of the gnawa was one of the results, and it has provided inspiration for artists around the world, from the drug-induced writings of Burroughs to the transcendental jazz of Randy Weston. Jazz giant Pharoah Sanders has been another artist influenced by this merging culture, and on this collaboration with Malmeem Mahmoud Ghania, and his musicians and singers, the whole cycle is renewed and energized in a feral fusion of sound and music. One second it is ecstatic as a dozen singers and percussionists wail to the heavens, the next minute it is a solo whisper of Sanders' tenor sax against an almost environmental background of near silence. Lightly produced by Bill Laswell, the textures of the Moroccan guimbri and tenor saxophone are enhanced, and the listener is enlightened.