Artist: Bembeya Jazz Title: Bembeya Label: World Village (www.worldvillagemusic.com) Colonialism, independence, diaspora, and economics. These ingredients have been brewing with tradition for decades in West African music. Just as a good stew tastes even better the next day, the best pioneering bands of Afropop have returned sounding tastier than ever. Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab, founded in 1970, and Mali’s Super Rail Band, founded in 1971, each reemerged with both new material and historic recordings in the past couple of years, and both toured North America. Now comes Guinea's even older band, Bembeya Jazz, formed in 1961, with a new CD and an unprecedented month-long summer tour of North America. Bembeya is their first recording in fourteen years. All three bands provide musical snapshots of the sunrise of independent African nations, simultaneously preserving tradition and creating a modern sound. In the case of Baobab, the band was formed to entertain the newly empowered politicians and intelligentsia. New governments funded Super Rail and Bembeya to propagate a newfound post-colonial African identity, asserting time-honored values to suit the fresh mood of independence. All three formed at a time and place when Afro-Cuban music resonated and possibly became the bridge between traditional music and modern instrumentation. In the mid-’60s, Bembeya Jazz, which takes its name from the river that runs through their remote hometown of Beyla, was certified as a national band by Guinea’s first president Sekou Touré. The band moved to the capital, Conakry, where they performed as many as six nights each week and felt pressure to develop the hottest spine-tingling sounds. From this era emerged their signature four-guitar section, the introduction of Hawaiian slide guitar, and stunning stage performances. Bembeya’s creative director Aboubacar Demba Camara was killed in a tragic car crash in 1973. The band was eventually able to re-group and right before the 1984 death of President Sekou Touré, he denationalized Bembeya (their first opportunity to operate internationally) and gave them their own nightclub. But the í80s saw a significant economic decline in Guinea and most of the band members had to look outside of the Guinean music scene for their primary livelihood. “The band was not broken up,” says lead guitarist Sekou “Diamond Fingers” Diabaté. “But in life, there are ups and downs, good moments and bad moments. So you wait. We were waiting.” The band’s latest fierce line-up includes four members that hail from the group’s formative years, decades ago. Sekou “Diamond Fingers” Diabaté has not let up with his fiery guitar embellishments and entertaining stage antics. The dulcet, high tenor voice of Salifou Kaba joins Doré Clement on tenor sax, Mohamed Kaba on trumpet, and Condé Mory Mangala on drums; all veterans of the dozen-member outfit. Just as Bembeya sought number one status in 1960s Guinea, they are sure to give Baobab and Super Rail a friendly run for their money on the international stage. Back to top

Artist: Varttina Title: iki Label: NorthSide (www.noside.com) Top Finnish contemporary folk music 9-piece combo Varttina featuring the dynamic female vocal trio front line, returns to North America, after six previous tours including their last New York appearance at Central Park Summer Stage in 1999 and the last US appearance at Nordic Roots Festival, Minneapolis in 2001. Varttina celebrates their 20th Anniversary this year with the release of their 10th album entitled iki, published in North America by NorthSide. The album iki is receiving rave critics and was picked as one of the “Top 50 World Music Albums You Must Own” by Songlines magazine of UK, as well as ranking in the top ten of their “Top of the World” picks (issue 18). Stateside, iki reached number 6 in the CMJ World Music Charts Varttina was named one of the world's “Top 40 Most Exciting and Soulful Artists of 2003” by Utne magazine of USA, alongside singer Tom Waits and director Julie Taymor. On the touring front, Varttina had another busy year in Europe, one highlight being the headline slot for 12,000 people at Sziget Festival Budapest World Music Stage, their second time to hold that position and third time at that festival. Varttina have been breaking new ground for Finnish folk music since the 1980s. The band combines traditional Finnish singing with contemporary arrangements, intense vocal harmonies, and a melodic sensibility. Varttina (meaning spindle) has its origins in 1983, as the project of singers and kantele players Sari and Mari Kaasinen. The original Varttina line-up - 15 young girls singing and playing kantele plus six young men accompanying them - made two recordings: Varttina (1987) and Musta Lindu (1989). Beginning in 1991, Varttina took a startling new direction: five effervescent young women bursting with vocal energy, fueled by a powerhouse acoustic band. The group's repertoire diversified, borrowing tunes, poems, songs and ideas from women's singing traditions of Finland and other Baltic regions. New, original compositions and lyrics from group members provided new dimensions and showed that Varttina had risen to a new level of sophistication. In performance, the focus shifted to a more "rock/pop" approach, presenting Finno-Ugric musical tradition in ways never before conceived. The female voices, having matured greatly since the early days, were the forefront of the group's sound and the band delivered rousing acoustic accompaniment. From 1991 to 1994 the band became a household name in the World Music community, and toured internationally. This period produced three albums, now on NorthSide. Since that time Varttina have gone on to greater success, releasing Kokko (Nonesuch, 1997), Vihma (BMG, 1998), Ilmatar and Live In Helsinki (both NorthSide). Back to top

Artist: The Warsaw Village Band Title: People's Spring Label: World Village (www.worldvillagemusic.com) The sheep-herding mountaineers of Poland used a style of singing called “bialy glos” or “white voice;” a type of powerful, melodic screaming used to communicate across long distances. The Warsaw Village Band revives this musical style on their new CD, People’s Spring, to be released on February 10th, 2004 by World Village. The band travels Poland’s countryside in search of the old people who recall the traditional folk music of their regions. The band—which emerged in 1997—simultaneously conserves traditional music and experiments with modern instrumentation and subject matter. “Traditional music in Poland isn’t exactly widespread,” writes Simon Broughton in World Music: The Rough Guide (1999). “The country has Westernised rapidly and the memory of Communist fakelore has tainted people’s interest in the genuine article. …the Communist regime, as throughout eastern Europe, co-opted folk culture as a part of its own ideology, as a cheerful expression of healthy peasant labour. The Communist espousal of folk music was a near killer blow for the tradition. Both folk music and traditions were sanitized almost to irrelevance, emerging mainly through presentation by professional folk troupes… the overall effect was homogenisation rather than local identity. …Nonetheless, there was just about enough slack in the system for local bands to keep some genuine tradition going.” The reemergence of the folk music scene began in the 1970’s, but since then, few folk bands have endured. The surfacing of Celtic and other world folk bands on the music scene in the ’80’s was noticed in Poland, and in the early ’90’s Polish folk bands began sprouting up again. Even so, little of this music has made it beyond Poland’s borders. Now the Warsaw Village Band is shining the spotlight on the country’s traditional music by combining ethnic and modern elements. They have created a genre of music they call “hardcore folk”—thanks to the punk-like, yet traditional singing style—or  “bio-techno”—thanks to electronic remixes featured on the CD. The fresh approach has already earned them international recognition with a recent nomination in the newcomer category of the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. On their countryside journeys, the band keeps their material fresh using the same means as classical ethnographic research; documenting dying traditions with live recordings of various Polish folk festivities and village celebrations. Their lineup includes the suka—a Polish fiddle from the 16th century that is only known from historical drawings and whose strings are played with the player’s fingernails rather than the usual fingertips. The suka is joined by an hundred-year-old Polish dulcimer and the hurdy-gurdy—a unique instrument that sounds similar to the bagpipe, thanks to a drone that is played by a cranked wooden wheel rubbing against the strings of the instrument. The Warsaw Village Band’s lyrics address social and political concerns, in part, due to the music’s close ties with punk circles. “Who is Getting Married” takes a feminist stance on her assumed marriage. It is about a young girl in the countryside that refuses marriage in order to sing, dance, and be free rather than being dependent on someone. “Crane” is a protest song of defiance advising the country’s youth to “be nobody’s servant.” The music and research of the Warsaw Village Band has inspired many in their home country. Their performance at the “Pastoral Celebration” in the mountainous region of Orava opened doors to the sound of the Mazovia Province. Although the music of the Polish plains was largely unknown to this audience, the band was welcomed with warm admiration and was honored with the distinction of being the first lowlanders ever to perform at a “highlanders only” party. The Warsaw Village Band’s youthful but mature take on Poland’s roots music has allowed them to introduce this tradition to audiences at home and around the world, and has made audiences take a fresh look at the once forgotten sound of Poland.   Back to top   This website: Copyright © 2003 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher or the previous publisher of original republished materials.