Tag: soukous

Returning to Kaya Street For Fuller Soul Sessions

In November last year I was mightily impressed with Bristol soul-reggae producer Kaya Street, and reviewed their EP The Soul Sessions, read it here for there’s no reason to go back through rewriting it, everything I said stands, except for one section….

At the time I praised Kaya Street for the experimental fusions which seemed to switch from four-beat soul and jazz into offbeat reggae, simultaneously evoking sounds of Africa like soukous. I said, “it’s not the ingredients in Kaya Street’s melting pot which makes it prominently interesting and beguiling, rather the way they stir it, the method in the composition and production.”

Despite taking into account albums like Mo Wax’s 1996 Money Mark’s Keyboard Repair Kit, which used short fragments and splinters of ideas deliberately juxtaposed to create a kind of musical mosaic, I did make a slight criticism about The Soul Sessions, and that was that they were underdeveloped and tended to end abruptly and far too soon. I stated at the time,  “If I am to find some niggly, it’s a lack of intro; the songs tend to jerk right in, but I guess it’s because I have the single edits here, and Kaya Street’s impressive lineup is plentiful to convince me they know the formula to extend and polish.” 

I am glad to hear that has now been amended and extended versions of the radio edits have been uploaded to Spotify. Each tunenow runs at an average five to seven minutes, and sounds complete. It’s now time to fully ingest the absolute magic of Kaya Street, in which you’re taken in smoother and played out satisfied by more wholesome versions of their interesting and wonderful fusions, and melting pot of influences, and, in turn, the journey is now complete.

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Cable Street Collective at Devizes Arts Festival

Seven-piece sui generis ensemble The Cable Street Collective were everything I expected them to be last night at The Corn Exchange; another impressive booking for the middle weekend of Devizes Arts Festival…..

Hailing from the Shadwell area of East London as the name suggests, if Cable Street is remembered for violent clashes between fascist Blackshirts and the multicultural populous, now reduced to lobbing milkshakes, multiculturalism also plays a major part of the band’s influences despite them being largely Caucasian.

From the off I’m reminded of the marabi sound of Hugh Masekela, with the upfront brass of trumpet and saxophone. Yet you couldn’t pigeonhole this with a thousand words, it’s wholly unique. Female fronted by an energetic yogi, she somersaults the high stage projecting a mid-tone vocal range with unrivalled passion, encouraging her audience to follow the leader.

In delivery and posture I likened her to Bristol’s Mr Tea and the Minions, a band the guitarist said they knew when I harassed him afterwards, and you may recall from a Street Festival of yore. Although Mr Tea borrows extensively from Balkan ska to create carny-folk, the Cable Street Collective favour African rhythms to dress their overall pop festival soulful sound; such is the interesting melting pot of the contemporary UK festival circuit.

With subtle nods to North African fusion, from Congolese rhumba to soukous, to the more prominent dance music of South Africa ascended from township jive, you cannot go wrong if you desire to get your audience on their feet. And that’s just what happened in the Exchange, they broke a, likely, tougher audience than those at a festival like Boomtown, younger and aching to dance to an alarm clock! An hour before the finale the majority caved into the irresistible urge to dance perpetrated on a Kevin Bacon cuttin’ Footloose level.

This appeased the band no end, as the atmosphere switched, the collective raised the bar, breaking occasionally to lower the tempo for poignancy, it maintained its influences of West African artists like Zeke Manyika and Thomas Mapfumo. By doing as they did, it mellowed into something decidedly transatlantic steppers reggae; up my street and knocking loudly on my door. It was a notification there was a concentrated if light narrative in their original dance rhythms.

They never waived from their ethos of delivering an all original set, by slipping in a cheesy cover or ten. Surprisingly then, they made no attempt to wave merch in our faces. For their resilience in what’s a band’s bread and butter these days, I’ll drop their BandCamp link below, because if you were there or should you otherwise take heed of my words, The Cable Street Collective are uniquely sublime and beguiling, and this was a fantastic night full of energy and passion.

Think, if The Brand New Heavies were inspired by a safari, then asked to compose a theme tune for a Shambala Festival promotional film, you get an impression of how quirky and distinctively original they are. This said, their grand finale felt like their magnum opus, an engaging tune called the Wolf, and it was riddled with the familiar brass riff of Paul Simon’s Call Me Al. The guitarist I managed to catch for a quick word expressed a group devotion to their parents’ copies of Graceland, hence the influence, which in turn made me feel old; parents? I brought that album!

For the record I digress, fact is unlike much of the album, the Call Me Al brass riff is entirely synthesised. In comparison to the Cable Street Collective, where nothing is synthetic save perhaps a spacey moment or two backing track to create ambience, this Collective are cool as cucumbers, bongo bonkers poptastic, and engagingly original. I loved it!

Today Devizes Arts Festival has two free events. Rumour will be at the Three Crowns, from 2pm – 4pm. And the Annie Parker Trio at St John’s Church, from 7pm – 8:30pm. It continues through the week, check out the programme HERE, and treat yourself, it’s been a fantastic year so far.

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Soukous at Wiltshire Music Centre with Kasai Masai

Okay, they’ve given me a seat number but I can’t imagine It’ll hold me for long. Soukous is infectious, in a word. The dance music of the Congolese, Kasai Masai wears its crown in the UK. Popular on the festival circuit, they’ve perfected this captivating sound over fifteen years and last night blessed the outstanding acoustics of the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon; an opportunity too good for nasty weather to distract me…..

Jesting with frontman Nickens Nkoso before they unleashed their hypnotic and irresistible rhythms, if he was from the Congo he could’ve at least brought the weather with him; yeah, a chilly evening, perhaps inapt for African music, but they sure warmed up the inside of this cathedral of music. Though Kasai Masai are London based, he originates from its capital, Kinshasa, and he briefly introduced me to the band from various areas of central and east Africa, such as Kenya and Tanzania.

I wanted to gauge Kassi if they treated a gig such as this, an audience predominantly unaware of soukous, any different than, perhaps, a London club where African rhythms are more recognisable, but he seemed certain they tackled them all with equal gusto, expressing the wealth of environments they played at, from arts centres to festivals such as Glastonbury and, naturally Womad. This said, one toe was eased in gradually, the opening songs steady in tempo and largely a Congolese rhumba, the root of soukous. Gorgeously layered, lengthy compositions, meld traditional aspects of the music of their homeland with their contemporary counterparts; the second he informed us is a lullaby, apparently! It was sweet and sentimentally executed, ambient, but still, I was edging off my seat.

It is not the structure of Kasai Masai, a six-piece combo of drummer, bassist, lead and rhythm guitarists, one sporadically swapping bongo and saxophone, and Kassi’s smooth vocals and occasional percussion with maracas, rather the unity and harmony of this tight-knit ensemble which charms one so evocatively. No player is upfront, the saxophone is subtle, bass levelled, the bongos drift, the singer binds it, sure, but the secret ingredient is proficient harmony.

Like many world music styles, you need to untrain your ear from the quadrille plod pop has accustomed you to, think of it like breaking in a pair of old leather boots. Unlike some others, soukous is made easy. Swapping to three chords midway, upping the tempo for the offbeat gives it this danceable surge, like those new air-wear souls which your feet slip straight into and off you walk; soukous is the Nike Air of African music! This theory was put to test last night at the Centre, as Massai began, an unassuming audience paid attention, as he encouraged the crowd to dance, it then became compulsory.

The last few songs of the first half I was aching to shake my thang, as the tempo upped and soukous became prominent, it demands it of you. Such is the main hall’s seated set up, you feel the British unmalleable obligation of reservation. The second half I was adamant, used the excuse I could get better photo angles to the few who made the dare to dance in the dancer’s corner, and abashed, added my real intention! Such colourful, electric rhythms, the like rare in these backwaters, I have to tip my hat to The Wiltshire Music Centre for providing such a diverse range of acts. Yeah, I was on my feet, it was hypnotic, but seconds later, I looked up to the seating, the majority were too.

They held the crowd spellbound as exquisite, exotic rhythms basked the Centre in African music’s opulence, a true and authentic show of the riveting and beguiling reverberations of a distant land; that is world music’s appeal, and that is what they delivered with certain perfection.

But the show is only a cornerstone to the whole experience at the Centre. This event was backed up earlier with a drumming workshop hosted by Kasai Masai, highlighting the educative element to the Centre’s ethos. Equal to this, upon me entering this wonderful purpose-built complex, the bar was filled with chat, and students jammed multiple xylophones, accompanied by one pianist, in the foyer; a clue to said ethos, there’s always something happening at the Wiltshire Music Centre, and as the name suggests, it’s usually something musical!

The Music Centre is hospitable and inviting, and gets full marks for its extensive and diverse programming. It was a brilliant evening, though with an act as mesmerising as Kasai Masai I can only begin to imagine the magnificence in atmosphere at a grassroots festival; if you see them on the lineup, head that direction. The remaining of us, The Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford-on-Avon is a real gem, check out what is coming up and do pay it a worthy visit.

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