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Return to World Rhythms > Downtempo - Page 1
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Return to various artists > green tea-flavored atmosphere - Product Detail
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rough guide : Product Reviews
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| Daily Telegraph, UK |
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‘Bigger than Europe, but with a population only a third that of London, the Sahara has never quite been a place to the Western mind – more a vast absence. But, thanks to the unlikely success of Tuareg nomad band Tinariwen and their Festival in the Desert, this brutal immensity of sand and rock is developing a powerful musical identity – one that is fruitfully explored on this invigorating compilation.
Artists include – Compagnie Jellouli & Gdih, Malouma, Tinariwen, Hasna El Becharia, Chet Féwet, Aziza Brahim, Nayim Alal, Mariem Hassan, Tartit Ensemble, Seckou Maïga, Groupe Oyiwane, Kel Tin Lokiene and Sahraoui Bachir
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| Time Out New York, USA |
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‘As the horrors of the evening news tell us, the various peoples of Sudan don't mix particularly well. That alone makes the sinuousness of this polyglot comp astonishing, a sort of can’t-we-all-get-along survey of desert music that places veterans (Abdel Aziz el-Mubarak, Abdel Karim el-Kabli) next to modernists like diva Setona, deceased saxist Tariq Abubakar and child-soldier-turned-rapper Emmanuel Jal. They all mix just fine.’
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| amazon.com Editorial Review--Christina Roden |
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Zydeco is the rollicking accordion-led dance music of Louisiana's Creole culture. It was invented by people of color whose ancestry included freed slaves and groups with whom they intermarried. It not to be confused with the European-derived Cajun style created by descendants of French settlers from Nova Scotia.
Zydeco, while as infectiously melodic, is rhythmically harder-edged than Cajun music and incorporates R&B, soul and hip-hop. While popular lore places it in New Orleans, the groove actually developed in the countryside, where groups of Francophone musicians formed combos fronted by squeezeboxes and frottiors, a metal washboard peculiar to Zydeco which was adapted into a vest in the interest of efficiency. Modern bands commonly include electric guitars, bass and keyboards.
This set showcases some of the genre's indelible hits, from Rockin' Sidney's playfully belligerent My Toot Toot, to Clifton Chenier's Calinda, to Beau Joque's virile take on John Lee Hooker's Voodoo Chile.
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| Bhangra Dance |
| Amazon.com Editorial Review by Tad Hendrickson |
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The follow up to 1999's Rough Guide To Bhangra, Rough Guide To Bhangra Dance focuses on recent mutations of this flexible music genre also known as "desi beats." Originally brought to England by North Indian Punjabi immigrants and their children, bhangra mutated in cities like London and Birmingham in the 80s to reflect the new surroundings of the artists and audience. The barrel-shaped dhol drum is still at the center of the clattering bhangra sound, but the 15 tracks here range from Four Of A Kind's boy-band leanings to Veronica's modern R&B-ish grooves to the traditional-minded Daljit Mattu & Ravi Bal. The music's party vibe works surprisingly well in conjunction with the strict aesthetics of hip-hop, dancehall and dance music, and has actually been incorporated by artists in those genres (Missy Elliott being a notable example). Nonetheless, this is an excellent line-up of artists coming out of the Indian tradition looking to Western forms in search of new fusions.
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| Amazon.com-Christina Roden |
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This collection could be described as "bellydance with twist" as every track is energetic, catchy and lusty but also chilled-out and mysterious. While the rhythm sections certainly let it all hang out, there's just a bit held back, whether in the vocals, strings or woodwinds, not unlike the way a female raks sharki (the traditional name for the genre) dancer will flaunt undulating hips and six-pack abs while veiling her face or upper body. Historically, while no family celebration or evening in a café was complete without them, women who plied this trade faced varying degrees of social ostracism. This was partly because their profession gave them a certain degree of independence, which threatened the status quo of the male-dominated cultures they hailed from. But in modern Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Greece, Lebanon and other countries, these ladies are for the most part recognized as the rigorously trained, exquisitely disciplined artists they have always been. Their relationship with the musicians they work with is one of equals, an uncommonly empathetic, shared act of creation not unlike that of flamenco dancers and their bands. Perhaps this is why, while listening to the tunes, sinuous, gyrating figures continuously appear at the corner of the mind's eye, fashioning wave-like susurrations around complex syncopations, goading their collaborators to ever more feverish heights.
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| Amazon.Com Editorial Review: Joey Guerra |
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Merengue--in all its hip-swiveling glory--is the focus of this edition of the Rough Guide series, an eclectic experiment dedicated to schooling the uninformed (read: Anglos) on globe-trotting cultures and sounds. It's an expectedly festive mix, from the opening strains of Cana Brava's galloping "Eres Mentirosa" through Milly Quezada's throaty, often thrilling, reading of "Caro" and on to Los Tupamaros' "La Negra Quiere Bailar," a sterling salsa/merengue hybrid. The pace falters a bit with Victor Roque y La Gran Manzana's "Ven Junto a Mi," but it's due more to poor sound quality than anything else. Oro Solido's frenetic "Verano Solido" is a rousing party-starter, and Los Ocho de Colombia offers "El Mamboleo," a modern, soul-infused take on the genre. The collection's glaring lack of female performers, however, is surprising. Aside from Quezada, women are relegated to backing vocals. Olga Tanon, Miriam Cruz and Las Chicas Del Can would likely have something to say about that.
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| Time magazine |
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‘Sung in the many tongues of Africa, wedding ancient rhythms to modern youthful optimism, Ceasefire is a reminder that peace needs open ears as well as open wallets… one of the freshest and funkiest albums around.’
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| Amazon.com Editorial Review by Michael Church |
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Cap at a rakish angle, Gitane hanging from the lip... as Guillaume Veillet's liner note points out, Paris's most indigenous music may seem a trifle cozy, but The Rough Guide to Paris Café Music shows the inaccuracies of that prejudice. The origins of French café music may lie in the Auvergne, whose musicians played the smallpipes, but the biggest influence that fed into the music came from Italy, with an organetto tradition traced to Nascente's Bar Italia (the other big influence came from the gypsy world). The Bal Musette café ballroom was the melting pot in which the smallpipes gave way to the accordion and stars began to emerge. Emile Vacher and Charles Peguri were the founding fathers of this tradition, and they're both present on this entrancing new rough guide installment. We also hear Jean Corti, who played in a military brothel in the 1940s, and the drug-addicted Fréhel, whose smoky tones are the authentic sound of the 1920s. The variety of styles in these 25 tracks is dazzling, as hot jazz alternates with modern cool. Django Reinhardt's son Babik beats up a lovely storm with the New Quintette du Hot Club de France; meanwhile, Edith Piaf sings a song called "L'Accordeoniste.".
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| View Additional Reviews for rough guide |
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