ears. Just as we all love the clockwork radio, so we are suddenly waking up to the uncontaminated beauty of acoustic sound. These 14 generous tracks celebrate the kora (African harp), the balafon (wooden xylophone), the mbira (thumb piano) and guitar. What they all have in common is a serene and gentle pace, but they also encompass great variety. From Malian desert blues sung by (appropriately) an irrigation engineer, to the complex vocal styles of Mauretania; from the Portuguese-influenced music of Cape Verde to the massed mbiras of Zimbabwe. We get Shona spirit-invocations and Nubian crooning, call-and-response from Congo and a foot-tapping dance from Madagascar. The final track comes like a quantum technological leap, but it's only Abdullah Ibrahim playing a lazy piano solo. The album's only blemish is its liner note: given that the whole thing is about instruments, how come we are told nothing about the instrumentation for each track? Very odd. --Michael Church
Album Notes: A portion of the profits from the sale of AFRICA will go to the international humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide.
Album Reviews: Q (1/00, p.128) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...modern African pop....Of the more familiar names, the Soul Brothers score with 'Thandaza', Sam Mangwana provides an acoustic 'Ya Mbemba' and the 4 Etoiles add soukous to an already potent African mix."
...This is a gorgeously packaged 3 disc set called 'Classic fm at the Movies.
It looks wonderful, from the digi-pack cover and slick black iconic silhouettes adorning each side.
A look at the track-listing shows that there are some enjoyable tracks here Star Wars, The Mission, The English Patient, Witness, Out of Africa these are all classic, no pun intended, tracks.
A few titles jumped out though, titles that I felt were worthy additions to a compilation album; titles like Stage Beauty, Arsène Lupin and Rachel Portman's Oliver Twist.
Some thought has clearly been put into this, making it a good collection of very fine film music. Although some track such as gladiator (suite) are poor imitations.
However it is a decent introduction, to the novice, for decent classical music.
Disc: 1
1. Superman
2. Back To The Future
3. Launch
4...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Amazing Jazz improvisation, great sound and beautiful harmony Disadvantages: None.
...Jazz in Africa is an excellent example of complex swing rhythms and fruitful harmony combined with witty and playful melodies. Instruments of a classic Jazz setup with a drumkit, double bass, piano, Saxophone and Trumpet.
This Album is a personal favourite with some really special tracks on it. Track 2 Yardbird Suite is a great introduction to jazz, its full of life with a controlled expressive saxophone solo. Track 12 Gafsa Gypsies, a piano solo is a brilliant piece showing the piano in its more dreamy side.
I think the questions when buying music in particular are: How tight is the music? How good is the sound quality? and is it really an positive experience into another culture? I think with Jazz in Africa Volume One I can really vouch for this album. Fair enough some of it may sound like a bit wild, wandering off the point...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful 25.09.2006
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01.10.2004
25.09.2006
