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TOP OF THEWORLD On your free CD – the editor’s selection of the top ten new releases reviewed in this issue BEST NE LBUM RELE SES MONSIEUR DOUM NI | RUSHI J IN | B LIM Y PROJECT N MG R | F PY L FERTIN NE QU RTET ND MORE... 01 Monsieur Doumani ‘Tiritichtas’ 02 Namgar ‘Yaboo-Aidoo’ 03 Badume’s Band & Selamnesh Zéméné ‘Ye’ambassel Mare’ 04 Yinon Muallem ‘Hicaz Saz Semaisi – Oriental Circles’ 05 JP Harris’ Dreadful Wind & Rain ‘House Carpenter’ 06 Arushi Jain ‘Richer Than Blood’ 07 Balimaya Project ‘Balimaya’ 08 Fapy Lafertin New Quartet ‘The Baltic’ 09 Ches Smith and We All Break ‘Woule Pou Mwen’ 10 Meelodi ‘Tahere’ PLUS 6 BONUS TR CKS FE T BUEN VIST SOCI L CLUB, L DYSMITH BL CK M MB ZO & MORE TOP OF THE WORLD CD 171 PLUS 6 bonus tracks 11 Buena Vista Social Club ‘De Camino a La Vereda’ 12 Joachim Cooder ‘Over That Road I’m Bound to Go’ 13 Aga Ujma ‘Night’ 14 Alim & Fargana Qasimov ‘Bardasht’ 15 Ladysmith Black Mambazo ‘Township Jive’ 16 Elektro Hafiz ‘Deutsche Freunde’ Exclusively with the October 2021 issue of Songlines. STWCD147. This compilation & © 2021 MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd 171 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 06 SONGLINES › #171 TOP OF THE WORLD PLAYLIST TRACKS 01 Monsieur Doumani ‘Tiritichtas’ From Pissourin on Glitterbeat Records Cypriot avant-folkists ratchet up an impish psych-drenched sunshine shuffler showcasing bundles of hip-shaking savvy and brassy devilment, with quaint multivoiced a cappella denouement. See p51 06 Arushi Jain ‘Richer Than Blood’ From Underthe Lilac Skyon Leaving Records The classically-trained Hindustani singer brews a burbling ambient breeze of modular synth that flows like a summer raga composed of shimmering electric static and mutant cicada chorus. See p58 02 Namgar ‘Yaboo-Aidoo’ From Nayan Navaa on ARC Music Thrash metal axe salvos, pugilistic percussion and ripples of Mongolian zither accompany the rapturous divinations of Buryat vocal powerhouse Namgar Lhasaranova. See p55 03 Badume’s Band & Selamnesh Zéméné ‘ Ye’ambassel Mare’ From Yaho Bele / SayYeah on Innacor Slow and bluesy does it. These European Ethio-jazzers bleed raw guitar fuzz over sparse grooves and extended chords, as Zéméné’s voice soars skyward. See p42 04 Yinon Muallem ‘Hicaz Saz Semaisi – Oriental Circles’ From Norwegian Oud on Galileo Music Ottoman classicism effortlessly shifts tempo to broody passages riding punchy oud patterns, purling qanun, brassy calls and hypnotic frame-drum rhythms. See p57 07 Balimaya Project ‘Balimaya’ From Wolo So on Jazz re:freshed Members of London’s new jazz collective come firing out of the starting blocks with intoxicating West African rhythmic wig-outs buttressing natty swirls of kora and balafon. See p43 08 Fapy Lafertin New Quartet ‘The Baltic’ From Atlântico on Frémeaux & Associés Django’s legacy lives on in the lush string interplay of this suave atmospheric cut by an ensemble plainly steeped in the poise of the Hot Club mode. See p50 09 Ches Smith and We All Break ‘Woule Pou Mwen’ From Path of Seven Colors on Pyroclastic Recordings Haitian drum patterns and entrancing vocal chants set the foundations for some measured piano-led jazz abstraction on this innovative stylistic blend. See p59 05 JP Harris’ Dreadful Wind & Rain ‘House Carpenter’ From Don't You MarryNo Railroad Man on Free Dirt Records With haunting vocals and poignant fretless homemade banjo strum, Joshua Press Harris exhumes a gem from the Alan Lomax archive of sonic discovery. See p45 10 Meelodi ‘Tahere’ From The Great Blue Wheel on Meelodi Medi Farmani summons the spirit of Persian poet Táhirih Qurrat al-‘Ayn whose writings feature on this track, augmented by Ole Andre Farstad’s dulcet guitar and Kadialy Kouyate’s kora. See p61 WWW.SONGLINES.CO.UK

+ SIX BONUS TRACKS 11 ▲ BUY NOW 11 Buena Vista Social Club ‘De Camino a La Vereda’ From Buena Vista Social Club on World Circuit Transportative horn-kissed sounds from one of the quintessential world music albums, back for another run 25 years after its historic recording. See p20 12 ▲ BUY NOW 12 Joachim Cooder ‘Over That Road I’m Bound to Go’ From OverThat Road I'm Bound on Nonesuch A cut from the catalogue of old-time banjo player Uncle Dave Macon gets an electric mbira-powered makeover from Cooder, who we speak to this issue. See p38 13 14 15 ▲ BUY NOW 13 Aga Ujma ‘Night’ From Songs of Innocence & Experience on Slow Dance Records The multi-instrumentalist showcases the spectral tones of the sasando (Indonesian zither) as well as her breathy vocals. Read more about the sasando in our My Instrument feature this issue. See p75 ▲ BUY NOW 14 Alim & Fargana Qasimov ‘Bardasht’ From Music of Central Asia Vol 6: Alim & Fargana Qasimov: Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings A deeply spiritual Azeri workout from this issue’s Beginner’s Guide subject, joined here by his daughter. See p70 ▲ BUY NOW 15 Ladysmith Black Mambazo ‘Township Jive’ From Two Worlds One Heart on Warner Records Malik Al Nasir traces the history of segregation via the sanguine isicathamiya of South Africa’s premier male choral group in this month’s My World. See p68 M a u r i c i o V a s q u e z “ Black music wasn’t on the agenda in the white institutions I was raised in… I was only exposed to white rock bands and knew zero about black music and culture” Turn to p68 for the full My World interview with performance poet and author Malik Al Nasir 16 ▲ BUY NOW 16 Elektro Hafiz ‘Deutsche Freunde’ From Elektro Hafiz on Pharaway Sounds Kerem Atay’s electro-saz spews streams of gnarly, fuzzed-out grunge lathered in feedback. He’s just one of the musicians igniting Berlin’s bağlama scene. See p30 WWW.SONGLINES.CO.UK OCTOBER 2021 › SONGLINES 07

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+ SIX BONUS TRACKS

11

▲

BUY NOW

11 Buena Vista Social Club ‘De Camino a La Vereda’ From Buena Vista Social Club on World Circuit Transportative horn-kissed sounds from one of the quintessential world music albums, back for another run 25 years after its historic recording. See p20

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BUY NOW

12 Joachim Cooder ‘Over That Road I’m Bound to Go’ From OverThat Road I'm Bound on Nonesuch A cut from the catalogue of old-time banjo player Uncle Dave Macon gets an electric mbira-powered makeover from Cooder, who we speak to this issue. See p38

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BUY NOW

13 Aga Ujma ‘Night’ From Songs of Innocence & Experience on Slow Dance Records The multi-instrumentalist showcases the spectral tones of the sasando (Indonesian zither) as well as her breathy vocals. Read more about the sasando in our My Instrument feature this issue. See p75

▲

BUY NOW

14 Alim & Fargana Qasimov ‘Bardasht’ From Music of Central Asia Vol 6: Alim & Fargana Qasimov: Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

A deeply spiritual Azeri workout from this issue’s Beginner’s Guide subject, joined here by his daughter. See p70

▲

BUY NOW

15 Ladysmith Black Mambazo ‘Township Jive’ From Two Worlds One Heart on Warner Records Malik Al Nasir traces the history of segregation via the sanguine isicathamiya of South Africa’s premier male choral group in this month’s My World. See p68

M a u r i c i o

V a s q u e z

“ Black music wasn’t on the agenda in the white institutions I was raised in… I was only exposed to white rock bands and knew zero about black music and culture” Turn to p68 for the full My World interview with performance poet and author Malik Al Nasir

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▲

BUY NOW

16 Elektro Hafiz ‘Deutsche Freunde’ From Elektro Hafiz on Pharaway Sounds Kerem Atay’s electro-saz spews streams of gnarly, fuzzed-out grunge lathered in feedback. He’s just one of the musicians igniting Berlin’s bağlama scene. See p30

WWW.SONGLINES.CO.UK

OCTOBER 2021 › SONGLINES 07

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