The Transglobal World Music Chart for October has some excellent new releases for the coming cool season. And if there is a theme that runs through the Top 20, it is one of reflection and understanding in a world that is full of pain and hurt. This is exemplified by the No.1 album Jarak Qaribak by Dudu Tassa and Jonny Greenwood.
Radiohead guitarist and film soundtrack composer Jonny Greenwood teamed up with Isreali singer and producer Dudu Tassa to record the album with a host of star singers and musicians from across the Arabic world. The title of the album in English is Your Neighbour Is Your Friend and features mainly Arabic love songs. Each singer was asked to cover a song from a country other than their own.
Reflective and healing sounds feature also on the No.2 album, a beautiful set of ballads and lullabies called Stoonia Lood by Estonian singer Mari Kalkun; and the No.5 entry by Luzmila Carpio, a shamanic singer from Bolivia, who explores the relationship between the Sun and the human heart on Inti Watana / El Retorno del Sol. The Tibetan artist Yungchen Lhamo, now based in New York State, had several well received albums on the Real World label in the 1980s and 1990s, and she returns to the label at No.11 with an album to inspire, One Drop Of Kindness.
Asia is represented by Lhamo and various musicians performing Tajikistani folk dances on Lost In Tajikistan; while tuvan khoomei or overtone singing is featured on Batsukh Dorj's Ogbelerim: Music For My Ancestors.
Welsh harpist Catrin Finch has appeared on the chart regularly, especially for her duets with West African kora (African harp) maestro Seckhou Keita. For her new album she has teamed up with violinist Aoife Ni Bhriain, a versatile musician from Dublin, for the album Double You which reinterprets Pietro Locatelli's series of capricci for violin. The two musicians are in perfect synch throughout the album -- Wales meets Ireland. Each track begins with letter W (hence the title Double You) and there is even a bee dance called Wandering.
Two excellent African albums also feature prominently on the chart. Leon Keita is one of those seminal West African guitarists who rarely gets a mention, despite having helped co-found the legendary Rail Band in Bamako in 1970. His self-titled album shows his amazing technique with some of his own recordings made after he left West African supergroup Les Ambassadeurs.
But the pick of the chart is band I am beginning to like a lot -- Mokoomba, who have been going for nearly 10 years and have carved out a niche for themselves at festivals around the globe.
The Zimbabwean band now has two studio albums under their belt but the new album Tusoma. The previous album, Luyando, was a back-to-roots acoustic set (three tracks from the album feature here as remix bonus songs) but the new album sees the band take off on the back of Mathias Muzaza's soaring voice, a root sound that goes back to the guitar-based rhythms of chimerenga music (think of Thomas Mapfumo in his prime and the Bhundu Boys' jit sound), hot brass from the highlife outfit Santrofi, a touch of Congolese, Afrobeat and West Africa all wrapped up into an infectious groove. The most Congolese of all the tracks, Makolo, is never off my sound system at the moment -- it reminds me of the dancefloor fillers of late Congolese star Papa Wemba and his band Viva La Musica. Wonderful. Highly recommended.
Craft Latino continues its reissue programme, with one for Latin soul fans. Ray Baretto's legendary 1973 album Indestructible has been remastered and reissued as a digital download and a vinyl record. The conguero's masterpiece has long been out of print, so this is great news for fans of the Fania All Stars stalwart.
Transglobal World Music Chart October 2023
- Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood Jarak Qaribak (World Circuit)
- Mari Kalkun Stoonia Lood / Stories Of Stonia (Real World Records)
- Mokoomba Tusona: Tracings In The Sand (Outhere)
- Various Artists Lost In Tajikistan (Riverboat / World Music Network)
- Luzmila Carpio Inti Watana / El Retorno del Sol (ZZK)
- Catrin Finch & Aoife Ni Bhriain Double You (Bendigedig)
- Kayhan Kalhor and Toumani Diabaté The Sky Is The Same Colour Everywhere (Real World Records)
- Idrissa Soumaoro Diré (Mieruba)
- Matthieu Saglio Voices (ACT)
- Tinariwen Amatssou (Wedge)
- Yungchen Lhamo One Drop Of Kindness (Real World)
- Batsukh Dorj Ögbelerim: Music For My Ancestors (Buda Musique)
- Miranda Uma Mulher Na Cidade (Jaro Medien)
- Bholoja Imphilo (One World Music)
- Leon Keita Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
- Yamandu Costa & Domingo El Colorao De Vida Y Vuelta (Bagual Productions)
- Bokanté History (Real World)
- Saîdê Goyî Jinê (Saîdê Goyî)
- Bantu What Is Your Breaking Point? (Soledad Productions)
- Fatoumata Diawara London Ko (3ème Bureau /Wagram Music)
More information: transglobalwmc.com
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
