HK's 10 Best CD's of 1998 East Bay Express I've worried a lot this year about the small number of new, great World Music releases and the shrinking World Music sections in local record shops. There's a lot less authentic, surprising music around from other cultures than there used to be. Why? My only guess is that the overpromoted "World Music" discotrash of the last few years has burned America's adventurous record buyers. I mean, if you already have a copy of hyped and promoted, best-selling DEEP FOREST - which you didn't play again after the first time after it left you feeling numbed, deadened and depressed, why would you need to buy anymore World Music? Isn't the purpose of music supposed to be to uplift and open the spirit? My pal Matt Groening down in LA points out that decline of real music from other cultures in the stores and on the airwaves is directly linked with huge increase in the number of "World Music" tracks that employ Eurological, drum machine programming to destroy the integrity and heart of ethnic musics to make them more dance floor friendly and "marketable". In the short run they do sell more copies of the factory beat dominated DEEP FOREST and its ilk, but I know that it's at great cost to the future of the diversity and growth of our multitude of planetary musical cultures. I hope this sad trend reverses itself as listeners become more dissatisfied as they are presented with the various formulaic brands of "World Music" that are currently and popularly overpromoted. In intentional contrast, my annual suggestions below, in whatever genre, are selected to be musics that uplift spirits and lives. MUNIR BASHIR & OMAR BASHIR: Irak (Saga/Auvidis Ethnic) Here's the real thing though. Munir Bashir, an Iraqi master of the Islamic Oud, who died a couple of years ago is here with his son in a program of duets that are both heartfelt, virtuoso, traditional and experimental. Both father and son are questing souls here; looking to make new discoveries of both spirit and music through their collaboration. This is really exciting music that you could play for your Grandmother as well as your lover or ethnomusicology professor.
NELS CLINE TRIO: Sad (Little Brother) For my money Nels Cline is the most exciting and innovative of the guitarists of my generation who are exploring the post-fusion, jazz space as it collides with free jazz and noise rock. In many ways this new CD of Nels' goes beyond what Sonic Youth tries to be and creates a new form out of the above-mentioned forms of the past.
TAKASHI HIRAYASU: Kariyushi No Tsuki (Respect - Japan) Will you be able to find this anywhere? I doubt it very much, unless you look carefully on the Internet. I found this new CD by an Okinawan folk-pop artist in a Tokyo record store last month and it is AMAZING. A completely successful fusion of '70s Americans heavy rock music with traditional Okinawan folk music. Can you imagine what ZZ Top, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Jackson Browne all playing together would have sounded like if they had grown up in Okinawa listening to traditional roots music? I could not until I heard this CD. Unlike the discotrash mentioned in my intro above, here the western rhythms, played by human hands, lock in dancing harmony with the beats and grooves of age-old Okinawan tradition, resulting in something that is greater than the sum of it's parts and truly new and surprising. Electric fiddles, heavy drums, slide guitars and Hammond organ integrate perfectly with the sound of the Okinawan samisan and the tone and meaning of Takashi's soulful singing.
DJESSOU MORY KANTE: Guitar Seche (Popular African Music) Here are three generations of African guitarists from Guinee playing acoustic guitars together. Aside from a few ancient and rare LPs on Guniee's long-gone Syliphone label, I think this is the only complete disc that lets you hear the wonderful sound of a Guinean guitar quintet playing acoustic chamber music that extends the Griot tradition of hodou and kora into a unique orchestration and celebration of today.
SHUJAAT KHAN & TEJENDRA NARAYAN MAJUMDAR: Raga Charukeshi (India Archive) Here's a jugalbandi or duet recording of two younger master of North Indian Classical music. They come from two quite distinct gharanas or lineages of tradition. Shujaat Khan is the son of Vilayat Khan and continues the Imadkhani gharana. Majumdar is from the Maihar gharana, locally represented in the Bay Area by it's living master, Ali Akbar Khan. This is the first recorded meeting of these two schools and the players were well aware that it was a significant and important moment in their histories. They chose a South Indian raga to collaborate on in order to avoid their school's possibly differing interpretations of the North Indian Ragas. The results are magical and quite as special as my favorite Indian duet of all time, that of Ali Akbar Khan and Nikhil Banerjee. India Archive continues to provide the best conception, production and notes of anyone putting out Indian Classical music today. If you like Indian music you will love this recording. Few stores it them, though. I suggest that the most convenient and economical place to purchase the above and virtually all other current releases of Indian music is at Shrimati's Ltd., 2011 University Ave., Berkeley, telephone: 548-6220.
B B KING: Blues on the Bayou (MCA) Finally, after a couple of slick CDs with famous guest artists and past greatest hits, BB was allowed to go into to the studio with his own band and to produce himself. This is the best King release in decades and proof that BB has the best blues band on earth. It goes without saying that BB is the best best blues guitarist too, but here he occasionally reaches beyond blues into unique and jazzy solos that are highly personal and innovative. This disc impelled me to write a fan letter to BB and his management to say: MORE! It would be a much better world if they let BB produce a recording with his own band every year.
TISZIJI MUNOZ with PHAROAH SANDERS: Spirit World (Anami) Here's Pharoah's best work since his late collaborations with Coltrane in the Impulse days. Just as importantly here is fantastic guitar playing from the intuitive genius Munoz that goes beyond invoking the spirit of late Coltrane in this 2-CD set. Munoz released two other fiery CDs this year, RIVER OF BLOOD and PRESENT WITHOUT A TRACE. All are essential listening for any guitarists or souls interested in how music can transcend physicality and the moment to open doors to new ideas and worlds. They may be tough to find in local stores but can be mail ordered from Anami Music, PO Box 712, Schenectady, NY 12301, telephone: 518-346-3928.
WADADA LEO SMITH / VINNY GOLIA / BERTRAM TURETZKY: Partaksis (Nine Winds) A lot of good free improvisation CDs this year, but this is my favorite. Master level players listening to each other and creating together. The contrasts and harmonies created here by the reeds , acoustic bass & trumpet are as dense and varied as a big band or an orchestra. This is a great example to introduce a new listener to the possibilities and mysteries of improvisation.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Ethiopiques 4 - Ethio Jazz & Instrumental Music (Buda- France) Wow! Ethiopia in the '70s. This CD makes me wish more than ever that I had a time machine so that I could visit there. Somehow the ingredients of American soul music, jazz and psychedelic guitar met with Ethiopian instrumental tradition as well as the soaring Islam-inflected vocal of Ethiopian to create something in the '70s that was unlike anything else in African then or since. This is dense hypnotic groove music that sounds at times like Sun Ra has landed his rocketship number nine next to the Red Sea. The other volumes in this series feature vocals and larger ensembles and are just as delightful to listen to as well as accompanied by liner notes that explain such odd facts as why most of the Ethiopian bands of the '70s were composed of policemen.
VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Music of Islam - Volumes 1 through 15, (Celestial Harmonies) 17 CDs in 15 volumes (available separately or as a giant set) documenting the contemporary musical richness of Islam in Yemen, Egypt, Sinai, Qatar, Doha, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Ache and Sumatra. Years in production, this great document features many different and extraordinary styles of music. More deep, rocking and profound than anything that you will ever find on the "World Music" charts this the the realest of the real things.
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