Songlines Magazine Sample Edition #91

free cd + songlines music awards winners + festival guide 2013

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Folk-hopDizraeli and

the Small Gods

spain’s gypsy king

Peret talks rumba catalan

manu chao“I was lost…Clandestino

saved my life”

www.songlines.co.uk Songlines 3

The Winners2013

2013

° I S S U E 9 2 °

28Songlines Music AwardsWe are delighted to announce the winners of the fifth annual awards.

30Manu ChaoPeter Culshaw reveals how Clandestino’s success turned Manu Chao’s life around.

34Funmi OlawumiThe Nigerian singer looks set to bring Yoruba gospel to an international audience.

36PeretSpain’s original Gypsy king talks rumba catalan, Franco’s regime and Eurovision.

38Baladi BluesThe Baladi Blues Ensemble explain why their Egyptian street music is so authentic.

41Festival Guide 2013The Songlines round-up of the top festivals in the UK and beyond.

www.songlines.co.uk

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UPFRONT7 Welcome9 Top of the World CD10 My World: Eugene Hütz12 News 18 Grooves: Sarah Savoy, Luzmira

Zerpa, Zé Luis19 Homegrown: She’koyokh21 Cerys Matthews23 Songlines Encounters Festival

and Songlines Music Travel25 Globe-Rocker:

Dizraeli and the Small Gods26 Letters

REGULARS52 Beginner’s Guide to

Abida Parveen55 Postcard from

Equatorial Guinea56 Smithsonian Folkways 59 Subscribe +GET A FREE CD 91 Gig Guide 96 You Should Have Been There...98 Backpage from Bangkok

COMPETITIONS25 Win a Dizraeli album28 Win a set of all four Songlines Music Awards winners’ albums50 Win Larmer Tree Tickets57 Win ten Smithsonian CDs85 Win a Clandestino book

70Europe

62Africa

81Asia

REVIEWS

82Fusion66

The Americas

85Books

86DVDs

88World Cinema

June2013

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in the next issue of

on sale June 7

interviewed by Chris Jagger

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Songlines Publishing Ltd PO Box 54209, London, w14 0wu, uk www.songlines.co.ukGeneral Enquiries+44 (0)20 7371 2777 [email protected]+44 (0)20 7371 2777 [email protected]+44 (0)20 7371 2834 [email protected] +44 (0)20 7371 2220Reviews we only review full-length world music albums (not singles or EPs) with uk distribution. Please send a copy marked ‘FOR REVIEw’ to the address above.

TM

One metal violin is so

beautiful, it’s a shock when you realise it

is made out of four revolvers

Next issue on sale June 7 2013

Welcome

With its dramatic gunshot sounds, ‘welcome to Tijuana’ was one of the most memorable songs on Manu Chao’s 1998 album Clandestino, referencing Mexico’s escalating drug wars and the horrific violence they brought with them. A direct connection between the

bloodshed and music is made in the fascinating sculptures by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes that are currently on show at London’s Lisson Gallery. One metal violin is so beautiful, with its almost baroque curves and decorations, that it’s a shock when you realise it is made out of four revolvers, with a rifle barrel as the fingerboard. Reyes has made over 50 musical instruments out of thousands of weapons seized in the border town of Ciudad Juárez for the Disarm exhibition, which is on show until May 4. There are guitars, flutes, panpipes, a xylophone and even banjos. A video downstairs shows the weapons being crushed by tanks and steamrollers

before being made into instruments by Reyes. A beautiful psaltery (zither) stands with four pistols as legs. The elegant body of a bass guitar is made out of the magazines that hold the rounds on a kalashnikov assault rifle. “It’s taking an agent of death,” says Reyes, “and converting it into an instrument of life.” There is, alarmingly, a simple charm to a tambourine that just happens to have been made from three steel magazines joined in a triangle with delicate jingles: a vivid juxtaposition of violence and pleasure. “weapons make people rush to their homes in fear and abandon the streets,” explains Reyes, “but music has the opposite effect. It brings people together and reclaims the cities for the people.”

working with groups of musicians, Reyes has given several musical performances and, as you might perhaps expect, the music sounds like heavy metal. The Mexican drug wars have their own musical genre, of course: the narcocorrido, a form of Mexican folk with accordions, brass and outrageous hats. But the video to a song such as ‘El Regreso de la Fiera’, by contemporary mariachi band Los Buknas de Culiacan, shows the results of all those guns in action. It’s enough to send you to scurrying back to our cover star Manu Chao’s ‘welcome to Tijuana’ which, despite the gunshots, doesn’t seem to be about anything stronger than marijuana. Read all more about Chao and the dramatic creation of his classic album, Clandestino, on p30.

And be sure to turn to p28 to discover the winners of this year’s Songlines Music Awards. Congratulations to them – and to the nominees – who are all featured on our compilation album. It’s exciting to see how many festivals around the world they are playing at – even relative newcomers like Zimbabwe’s terrific Mokoomba. we’ll be running a full report on them soon.

SONGLINES DIGITAL Songlines Digital subscribers now have free access to the iPad and Android Tablet editions. For more details see p59

SONGLINES DIGITAL

THE TEAMEditor-in-chief Simon BroughtonPublisher Paul Geoghegan Editor Matthew MiltonAssistant Editor Alexandra PetropoulosArt Director Jenni DoggettAdvertisement Manager James Anderson-HanneySubscriptions Manager and Social Media Co-ordinator Edward CraggsPodcast Producer Nasim MasoudReviews Editor Matthew MiltonNews Editor Nathaniel HandyListings Tatiana Rucinska [email protected] Cinema Editor Ed Stocker [email protected] Consultant Dermot JonesFinancial Controller Iwona PeruckaCommercial Consultant Chris walshEditorial Director Lyn HughesContributing Editors Jane Cornwell, Mark Ellingham, Sue Steward & Nigel williamson Design intern Bethan Thomas

Cover Youri Lenquette

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SONGLINES MUSIC AWARDS 2013watch our short film, presented by Simon Broughton, featuring live footage from each of this year’s Songlines Music Awards winners on the Songlines YouTube channel – www.songlines.co.uk/youtube

UPFRONT

10 Songlines April/May 2013

Also on your CD: five tracks chosen by Eugene Hütz

My WorldUPFRONT

11 Goran Bregovic ‘Be That Man’

From the album Champagne for Gypsies on Wrasse Records“Goran is quite rock’n’roll… We just wrote this track pretty much from scratch. It

was a true cooperation, you know?”

12 Kozak System ‘Shablia’

From the album Shablia on Kozak System Records“It’s pretty confident, what they are doing. There’s just a lot of the metal/punk element to it,

and the ethnic element is quite strong.”

13 Kapelle Böllberg ‘Mädchenpop’

From the album Kapelle Böllberg on Kapelle Böllberg Records“First of all, I love that track, and it’s an instant charmer, you know? It’s a

band produced by a friend of mine, the drummer from Mano Chao’s band Radio Bemba.”

14 A Tribe Called Red ‘Electric

Pow Wow Drum’From the album A Tribe Call Red on A Tribe Called Red Records“I love A Tribe Called Red… This is a really successful way

of combining electronic music with that culture.”

15 Seu Jorge and Almaz

‘The Model’From the album Seu Jorge and Almaz on Now-Again Records“He’s a naturally born dramatist. Anything he says

tells a story. It’s like a stream of beautiful energy.”


UPFRONT

“Russian and slavic people, they are naturally more chaotic. Nothing you can do about it, and there’s nothing you need to do about it,” muses Gogol Bordello’s frontman Eugene Hütz. You only have to see the Gypsy punk band and its moustachioed leader perform live to be convinced. Their music is loud, thrilling, exhilarating and, well, chaotic. Capable of transforming a crowd into a roaring mosh pit in seconds, Gogol Bordello know how to party – especially Mr Hütz.

“I think I was conceived to the sounds of Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison,” he suggests. “During childhood I had a lot of accelerated emotional, physical and spiritual fun with music, you know? It was like a part of everyday life and it never really left me.”

We don’t get far into our interview before he starts waxing poetic about the true essence of music and what it means to him. “Music is one of the ways to explore human potential, and that requires presence, ultimate presence, on all levels. It’s like I go around the world and I can live there, and I can embrace a culture, but soon enough, I’ll be pulled back into an outsider position, which is where I feel even more at home. I think the outsider position is the only place where consciousness can rise and blossom.”

And Hütz has been just about everywhere – from his childhood in Kiev, Ukraine to his current base in Rio de Janeiro via a slew of Eastern European countries and some time in the US. His love for Brazil has kept him in Rio for nearly five years, but Eastern Europe seems to have followed him there. “Latin America is actually embracing Eastern European music massively, and there’s lots of people in Latin America right now having sex to Balkan music. Kids are coming backstage all the time and saying, ‘hey man, we’re from a local Argentinean Balkan band.’ I want to say that’s a funny oxymoron – Argentinean Balkan band – but you don’t have to be from Romania to get the riffs from that music and incorporate it into Latin music. And that’s what’s going on right now. I think that’s wicked.”

It’s while speaking of Balkan music in South America that Hütz mentions that he and Goran Bregović recorded the first track of his playlist in Rio.

Hütz admits that working with Bregović was long overdue. “He just called me one day and said ‘Hey, I love your music, do you know my music?’ And, the answer was obvious, of course, and he was like, ‘It’s time for us to cook something together. I mean, we should have been cooking together something like ten years ago already, but let’s not never do it.’” They recorded in Paris while Hütz was on tour, but soon it was time for him to fly back to Rio. “Maybe a month later, I was doing my thing in Rio, and my phone rings, and he’s like, ‘It’s me, I am here. I’m in Copacabana, sitting on the sidewalk.’ I went and picked him up in the cab, and he was staying in some one-star hotel, sitting with a laptop, right on the street, and I was like, come on, hide that fucking thing, this is Rio!” They started recording and within a week they had written ‘Be That Man’.

“We were making Balkan music in a tropical environment, and then I looked around and said ‘wow, look at all this stuff I gathered – all the experiences, all the music, all the connections

– from these countries’. I said ‘man, let me bring this all the way back home.’” And so the idea of Casa Gogol was born.

Located in his childhood home of Kiev and due to open this summer, Casa Gogol is a venue that Hütz hopes will encourage that same sense of cross-cultural collaboration between Balkan and Latin cultures. “It’s going to be a fun place where I can really let hell loose, without asking anybody what the curfew is.”

Happy to show off other local Ukrainian talent, Hütz has chosen the band Kozak System as his second track. “This is a very fresh new band from the Ukraine,” he tells me, explaining how they formed just last year after taking on members of the now defunct band Haydamaky. “There’s a lot of the metal/punk element to it, and the ethnic element is quite strong.”

While Hütz is most comfortable as an outsider, he highly respects music successfully put together by someone from within a tradition. The Canadian-based band, A Tribe Called Red, mix hip-hop, dance and aboriginal Canadian music to create their own genre of urban pow wow music. “There are just so many attempts where people take samples and try to overlap their music with it, but this is a really successful way of combining electronic music with that culture. You can tell that these are people who are on the inside of that tradition.”

Also on Hütz’s playlist is the German band Kapelle Böllberg’s ‘Mädchenpop,’ produced by the drummer from Manu Chao’s band. “I think you can hear a bit of a Radio Bemba vibration in there; this simple street vibe to it that’s crafted to a masterful level.”

For his final playlist track, Hütz has chosen ‘The Model’ by Seu Jorge and Almaz. “I actually find myself listening to Seu Jorge much too much! It’s getting to a level where I’m getting bootlegs and stuff like that. He’s a natural-born dramatist. Anything he says tells a story in a language that you don’t have to know. It’s like a stream of beautiful energy that has so many shades, you know? This is a fun track.”

So what’s next for the Gyspy punkster? He’s just finished recording a new Gogol Bordello album due out in July. After years of touring and recording together, the album reflects a new attitude for the band. “Suddenly we came to a different place, where we started feeling like we’ve been in the trenches together. We grew up together. It’s a really great feeling, and so the album is very uplifting in each and every way.” Titled Pura Vida Conspiracy, Hütz says it should serve as “a reminder to all the people who are too focused on everything that’s going wrong. It’s like, people wake the fuck up – 50% of things are actually going right all the time!” Expect something almost primordial from the band. “Like dancing around the fire together, it takes a lot of circles around the fire before the dance really starts cooking,” Hütz explains. “And now it’s really fucking cooking and everybody knows it. It’s that kind of vibe, like a transformational shebangatron!”

ALBUM Pura Vida Conspiracy will be released this July PODCAST Hear a bonus track by Mariachi el Bronx, chosen by Eugene Hütz, on this issue’s podcast

EUGEnE HüTz The Gogol Bordello frontman and Gypsy punk talks to Alexandra Petropoulos about the Latin-Balkan connection, Goran Bregović and the essence of music

28 Songlines April/May 2012

best artist angÉliquE kidjoFor Spirit Rising on Wrasse Records

“An activist, using music for pleasure and power,” is how Jude Kelly, artistic director of London’s Southbank Centre, succinctly described Angélique Kidjo when she introduced the Women of the World concert last month. Although petite, Kidjo is a bundle of energy and packs a mighty punch on stage. She’s made songs like ‘Malaika’ and ‘Redemption Song’ her own, while her songs ‘Agolo’ and ‘Batonga’ have become signature pieces.

Angélique Kidjo was born in Cotonou, Benin. She started singing at an early age, but was forced to move to Paris in 1983 when Benin became a Marxist dictatorship. In Paris her career took off and she was discovered by Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records. It was Logozo (1991), her first album for the label, which brought her to an international audience. Since then she’s won a Grammy for Djin Djin (2007), become a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and co-founded the Batonga Foundation for girls’ education in Africa.

As a youth in Benin, Kidjo was inspired by South African singer Miriam Makeba at a time when social opinion of singers was low. “Miriam Makeba was the African role model I needed.” In a way, since Makeba’s death in 2008 Kidjo has stepped into her shoes – almost literally in the film Mama Africa, a celebration of Makeba’s life.

Kidjo has received many accolades, including being described by Time magazine as ‘Africa’s premier diva,’ yet hearing of her Songlines Music Award her reaction was “Woah! I’m so proud!”

2013

We are delighted to announce the winners of the fifth annual Songlines Music Awards. From over 600 albums to a shortlist of 16, we finally selected four outstanding artists

Launched in 2008, the Songlines Music Awards celebrate and acknowledge the myriad of musical talents across the world, featured in Songlines magazine. This album includes all 16 nominees in the 2013 awards as voted for by Songlines readers and the general public.

SPLCD008 This compilation P & © 2013 Songlines Publishing Ltd and is issued under license. Executive producer Paul Geoghegan. Compiled and sequenced by Edward Craggs. Design by Jenni Doggett. Mastering by Good Imprint. CD pressing by VDC. Total disc time 71:47 The producers of this CD have paid the composers and publishers for the use of their music.

1 Mokoomba ‘Nimukonda' (4:32)From the album Rising Tide on IglooMondo

P & © 2012 Zig Zag World. Courtesy of Zig Zag World

2 Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyaté ‘Lady’ (3:38)From the album Faya on Localization Records

P & © 2012 Localization Records. Courtesy of Localization Records

3 Katy Carr ‘Paszport’ (2:52)From the album Paszport on Deluce Recordings

P & © 2012 Deluce Recordings. Courtesy of Deluce Recordings

4 Emel Mathlouthi ‘Hinama (When)' (5:28)From the album Kelmti Horra on World Village

P & © 2012 World Village. Courtesy of World Village/Harmonia Mundi

5 Lo'Jo ‘Zetwal' (4:32)From the album Cinéma el Mundo on World Village

P & © 2012 Lo'Jo, under exclusive license to Harmonia Mundi sa/World Village France. Courtesy of World Village

6 The Chieftains with Carlos Núñez ‘Lundu’ (3:10)From the album Voice of Ages on Hear Music/Decca

P & © 2012 Blackrock Records LLC under exclusive licence to StarCon, LLC dba Hear Music. Courtesy of Concord Music Group/Decca Records

7 Eric Bibb and Habib Koité ‘Foro Bana’ (5:28)From the album Brothers in Bamako on Contre-Jour

P 2012 Contre-Jour & Bug Music/BMG & © 2012 Contre-Jour. Courtesy of Contre-Jour

8 Guy Schalom ‘Lil Ya Layali (radio edit)’ (4:17)From the album Baladi Blues 3: The Art of Baligh Hamdi on Ethnomusic Records

P & © 2012 Ethnomusic Records. Courtesy of Ethnomusic Records

9 Seth Lakeman ‘Hard Road’ (3:38)From the album Tales from the Barrel House on Honour Oak Records

P & © 2011 Honour Oak Records. Courtesy of Honour Oak Records/Proper Music

10 Ravi Shankar ‘Raga Khamaj’ (excerpt) (5:42)From the album The Living Room Sessions Part 1 on East Meets West Music

P & © 2012 East Meets West Music. Courtesy of East Meets West Music

11 Samuel Yirga ‘The Blues of Wollo (Dessye Mix)' (4:42) From the album Guzo on Real World

P & © 2012 Real World Productions Ltd. Courtesy of Real World Productions Ltd

12 Bellowhead ‘Roll the Woodpile Down' (3:05)From the album Broadside on Navigator Records

P & © 2012 Navigator Records. Courtesy of Navigator Records/Proper Music

13 Warsaw Village Band ‘My Fate’ (6:15)From the album Nord on Jaro

P 2012 Jaro Medien GmbH & © 2012 Warsaw Village Band. Courtesy of Jaro

14 Sam Lee ‘The Ballad of George Collins' (4:03)From the album Ground of its Own on The Nest Collective Records

P & © 2012 The Nest Collective Records. Courtesy of The Nest Collective Records

15 Dub Colossus ‘Satta Massagana (Yeka Dub)’ (3:54)From the album Dub Me Tender Vol 1+2 on Real World

P & © 2012 Real World Productions Ltd. Courtesy of Real World Productions Ltd

16 Angélique Kidjo ‘Agolo’ (4:32)From the album Spirit Rising: Live from Guest Street on Wrasse

P & © 2012 WGBH Education Foundation. Licensed to Wrasse Records. Courtesy of Razor & Tie

5060085170420>

2013

2013

For biographies of all 16 nominated artists visit www.songlinesmusicawards.com or scan the QR code

celebrating the best music from around the world

Featuring all 16 nominated artists including: Angélique Kidjo, Seth Lakeman, Ravi Shankar,

Lo'Jo, Sam Lee and The Chieftains

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Win! We have a set of all four 2013 winning albums to give away. To enter, simply answer: Who won our Newcomer award in 2012? See p7 for Songlines competition rules and address. Competition closes on June 21 2013.

ONLINE Visit our YouTube Channel to watch a film of the winners, with live performancesALBUM Featuring tracks from all 16 nominees, the Songlines Music Awards 2013 compilation album is available on CD & download from Amazon.co.ukPODCAST Hear music from each of the winning artists’ albums on this issue’s podcast

the Winners

28 Songlines June 2013


neWcomer mokoombaFor Rising Tide on Zig Zag World/IglooMondo

best grouplo’joFor Cinéma el Mundo on World Village

cross-cultural collaboration dub colossusFor Dub Me Tender Vol 1+2 on Real World

This has been Mokoomba’s year. The funky six-piece from Zimbabwe have impressed crowds everywhere they’ve played and it’s impossible to resist the danceable charm of their international debut Rising Tide. The sheer number of ‘Best of 2012’ lists they have appeared on is a testament to that. From the Victoria Falls region of Zimbabwe, the members of Mokoomba are childhood friends who grew up making music together. The area is home to the Tonga ethnic group, which has its own distinct musical styles. Much of Mokoomba’s music draws on this but their influences also stretch further afield – Afro-salsa, Congolese rumba, reggae and more – creating a truly pan-African sound that is bursting with raw energy.

Frontman Mathias Muzaza’s incredible voice is the band’s secret weapon. Equally able to growl over funky guitar riffs or powerfully belt it out, Muzaza lends the band their signature sound. On Rising Tide, the whole band – Muzaza, Trustworth Samende on guitar, Abundance Mutori on bass, Donald Moyo on keyboards, Costa Ndaba Moyo on drums and Miti Mugande on percussion – are tied beautifully together by the slick production of Ivorian bassist Manou Gallo of Zap Mama.

With a European tour on the horizon, which is due to include festivals like the Essaouira Gnawa & World Music Festival, Africa Oyé and WOMAD Charlton Park, it looks like their upwards momentum won’t be stopping anytime soon. A rising tide indeed!

The collective of musicians from the south-west of France known as Lo’Jo has been going strong for 30 years now. Their tenth album, Cinéma el Mundo, betrays no sign at all that they intend to slow down, and features prestigious musical guests such as the legendary Robert Wyatt (who opens the album intoning in French) and Ibrahim Ag Alhabib from Tinariwen.

Back in 1982, Lo’Jo’s lead singer Denis Péan and his violinist friend Richard Bourreau started playing and recording together. Both were studying classical music, but were just as interested in the music of Léo Ferré, John Coltrane and punk. They were invited to contribute music to performances by a local street-theatre company called Jo Bithune, and toured the world with them as part of a show called Décrocher La Lune (Unhook the Moon). It exposed them to many different genres of music, and they returned home from their travels with a collection of new instruments and influences from Mali, Turkey, Egypt and Cambodia.

Péan and Bourreau have remained the core of Lo’Jo over several line-up changes across the years. The band is currently a six-piece, with Middle Eastern harmonies provided by the singing sisters Nadia and Yasmina Nid el Mourid, bass from Nicolas ‘Kham’ Meslien and drums by Baptiste Brondy. Lo’Jo have embraced French chanson and musette, jaunty reggae, African, Arabic and Gypsy flavours; they are a world music institution that remains stylishly, quintessentially French.

The mighty collective that is Dub Colossus are no strangers to the Songlines Music Awards, having been nominated last year. This time it’s finally their turn in the spotlight, with a well-deserved win for the powerful grooves of their latest release. Nick Page is the man who put Dub Colossus together. A former member of Transglobal Underground, he first travelled to Addis Ababa in 2006 to collaborate with Ethiopian musicians, and immersed himself in traditional azmari styles, Ethiopian pop and jazz.

He met up with the female vocalist Tsedenia Gebremarkos, a highly successful African pop star, and Sintayehu ‘Mimi’ Zenebe who’s been described as ‘Ethiopia’s Édith Piaf.’ Also key to Dub Colossus’ sound are the pianist Samuel Yirga, learned jazz saxophonist Feleke Hailu and the azmari folk singer Teremage Woretaw, who also plays the one-stringed mesenqo violin. Their debut album, 2008’s A Town Called Addis, mixed their many Ethiopian influences with heady dub bass and beats, while its follow-up, Addis Through the Looking Glass, refined their sound. Dub Me Tender Vol 1+2, as the name suggests, heard Page giving his passion for dub free rein, re-imagining Dub Colossus’ finest moments with help from singer Mykaell Riley of the legendary 70s group Steel Pulse. Their storming concerts last year, where they performed these versions live, attest to how well the album worked, with their traditional Ethiopian roots enriched by the authentic reggae of Riley’s vocals and the sublime Horns of Negus brass section.

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52 Songlines June 2013

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f BEGINNER’S GUIDE

ABIDA PARvEEN

They weep, they faint and some go into a trance in jam-packed concert halls, while scores of others sway uncontrollably in the aisles. It may be a nail-biting moment for the health

and safety police but these scenes are typical at an Abida Parveen concert. The Pakistani singer really has to be seen to be believed; her numerous recordings rarely do full justice to her electrifying live performances. At a stadium performance in Lahore, Peter Gabriel’s Real World label representatives were hugely impressed: ‘The power was like at a heavy metal concert – but it was only Abida accompanied by a percussionist and a harmonium.’

She is, undoubtedly, one of the world’s greatest singers and Pakistan’s only internationally renowned female singer of Sufi music. A woman in what has always been a man’s world, Parveen is truly one of a kind. Born in Larkana in the Pakistani province of Sindh in 1954, she was drawn to mysticism at a young age and was initially trained by her father, Ghulam Haidar – an established classical vocalist of his time. In a radical departure from the norm, Haidar not only nurtured his daughter’s immense talent but also, bypassing his sons, named her his musical successor when she was just five years old.

Parveen’s repertoire consists largely of Sufi poetry in the Sindhi and Punjabi languages and Saraiki dialect, although she also sings a number of ghazals (rhyming couplets) in Urdu or Farsi. A great deal of her Punjabi repertoire overlaps with the texts sung in qawwali (Sufi devotional music), notably those performed by her near contemporary, the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, causing some to dub her a ‘female qawwal’ – a label that made her uncomfortable despite the fact that her performances can be just as spiritually uplifting as that of Khan. Her forte, however, is kafi, a song form invented by the mystic poet-musician Shah Abdul Latif (1690-1752) from her native province Sindh in Pakistan, dotted with Sufi tombs. Kafi differs markedly from ghazal and qawwali. Ghazal is a literary genre that can also be read, and qawwali relies heavily on a chorus of male voices and rhythmic clapping. But kafi is primarily a solo genre designed only to be sung. Many author-composers clearly specify the raga, or melodic framework, the singer should use. Also, unlike qawwali’s carefree abandon, which aims to heighten spiritual awareness in listeners through frenzied rhythms and syncopated clapping, kafi is a somewhat softer, more reflective genre. Blending sadness with joy,

it’s akin to a heart-wrenching symphony that nevertheless ends on an optimistic note.

Parveen’s best-loved and most popular numbers include verses not only from Shah Abdul Latif but from all the prominent mystic poets of the region, often inserting the verses of several poets into the same song. Her huge international success is perhaps not as surprising as her complete – and unconditional – acceptance in her native Pakistan, where Sufi music either belongs to hereditary male qawwals, or to the many solo male artists who specialise in singing Sufi verse. Women are even frequently relegated to the back rows as listeners. But the male/female divide rapidly melts into insignificance the minute Abida Parveen strikes the first note with her exceptionally deep and powerfully controlled voice. Anyone who has attended her concerts will testify that she appears wholly ecstatic, as though on some spiritual sojourn of her own, and totally oblivious to the impact she’s having on her audiences. For her, the performance of this music is, in itself, an act of devotion: “There is a message in this music, the Sufi message of love,” she said in an interview for the Channel 4 documentary Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam, adding, “when somebody listens to this music, it is their heart, their soul that is listening…”

Parveen has been going from strength to strength since the late 80s, with a sparkling international career that has seen her appearing on reality TV shows and judging talent contests and in India. The latest of these was the controversial Sur Kshetra, which was a (supposedly) peaceful battle of musical notes with India pitted against Pakistan. She is by no means the first Pakistani artist to have achieved this god-like status on Indian TV. But she is definitely the first talent-show judge to flatly refuse to mark down a not-so-good contestant on the grounds that he was singing her sacred and beloved Sufi poetry, albeit a little out of tune.

podcast Hear music from Abida Parveen on this issue’s podcastdatE Abida Parveen will be performing at the Manchester International Festival on July 6

BEst aLBUMs

Songs of the Mystics (navras, 2000) This album was recorded at a time when Parveen was beginning to get

noticed outside of Pakistan but had yet to be embraced by India and its gigantic Bollywood music machine. It features all her famous numbers including kafis, a couple of Urdu ghazals and a thumri (light classical song) in Hindi.

‘Ishq: Supreme Love (accords Croisés, 2005) One of her finest albums, this features her usual repertoire but with the

most amazing sound quality. French bansuri flute player Henri Tournier contributes a lovely breathy texture, improvising around her every vocal nuance. The flute is no stranger to this genre – there are numerous songs which feature mystical folk heroes that play the instrument. This is a terrific studio recording.

Visal: Mystic Poets from the Hindi and the Sind (World Village, 2002) Another outstanding album featuring some

rarely-heard numbers and, again, beautifully enhanced by Henri Tournier’s bansuri.

The Very Best of Abida (times Music, 2005)There are numerous compilations – in fact the majority of her albums are

compilations – of which The Very Best of Abida stands out with its well-balanced mix of her traditional and modern repertoire.

BEst aVoIdEd

Sufiana Safar (Winjit technologies, 2012)An Indian recording – of which there are many – where her original old

vocals are needlessly overlaid with mechanical muzak-style percussion and orchestral tracks.

LIKE aBIda paRVEEN? tHEN tRY…

patHaNaY KHaN, HaMId aLI BELa oR tUfaIL NIYazIPakistan’s top three legendary kafi singers – all men, of course. All have very different styles of singing but essentially perform the same repertoire as Abida Parveen.

Jameela Sidiqqi tells the story of Pakistan’s only internationally renowned Sufi female singer

“When somebody listens to this music, it is their heart, their soul that is listening…”


UPFRONT

1 Bombino ‘Imuhar’

From Nomad on Nonesuch RecordsAcclaimed Touareg guitarist receives a rock’n’roll makeover to great effect from Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. See p62

2 Clinton Fearon ‘Let Jah be Praised’

From Heart and Soul on Sterns MusicThe reggae bassist tastefully reinvents the Gladiators’ classic tracks with a stripped-down, one-man approach. See p67

3Amparo Sánchez ‘La Cuenta Atrás’

From Alma de Cantaora on Wrasse RecordsThe singer-songwriter puts together an album of unusual, yet charming, Tex-Mex Spanish sounds. See p84

4 Family Atlantica ‘Manicero’

From Family Atlantica on Soundway RecordsUniting African and Latin music successfully, Family Atlantica’s debut is full of joy and adventure. See p82

5 Caetano Veloso ‘Um Abraçaço’

From Abraçaço on Decca RecordsThe iconic Brazilian composer returns with a reflective album that is packed with lament, loss and invective. See p69

On your free CD – the editor’s selection of the top ten albums reviewed in this issue92

6 Bella Hardy ‘The Seventh Girl’

From Battleplan on Noe RecordsThe award-winning English folk singer fashions catchy pop hooks and haunting melodies on this album of both traditional and original material. See p73

7 Debashish Bhattacharya

‘Kirwani One.5+8.Five’ From Beyond the Ragasphere on Riverboat RecordsKolkata-based Bhattacharya teams up with two guitar legends for this joyful album of raga. See p81

8 Ana Moura ‘Amor Afoito’

From Desfado on Decca RecordsA fresh and beautifully-crafted take on traditional fado song, which benefits from the Portuguese singer’s pop sensibilities and international appeal. See p75

9 Rachid Taha ‘Ana’

From Zoom on Wrasse RecordsThe Algerian singer returns with swagger, purpose and a host of rock stars for an album that’s just as comfortable in the Arab world as it is in the West. See p64

10 Stephan Micus ‘I Praise You,

Sacred Mother’From Panagia on ECM RecordsQuiet and contemplative, Stephan Micus’ 20th album is dedicated to ‘the female energy that is everywhere in the world.’ See p83

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#91 April/May 2013 Rokia Traoré, The Nile Project, Ballaké Sissoko, Songlines Music Awards Nominees, Rainforest World Music Festival...Top of the World #91 CD feat Jocelyn Pook’s playlist

#90 March 2013 Goran Bregović, Remembering Ravi Shankar, Music and Food, Enzo Avitabile, Oysterband...Top of the World #90 CD feat Joe Boyd’s playlist

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#88 Nov/Dec 2012Bellowhead, Mali in crisis, Geomungo Factory, Lau, Africa Express, Oscar D’León...Top of the World #88 CD feat the Adjaye brothers’ playlist + Welsh Sampler CD

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