your Groove Nations programme here [pdf

do something different
contemporary summer 08
28 May–3 Jul 08
www.barbican.org.uk/groove-nations
Free programme
Groove Nations
More Than One Nation Under A Groove
African-American musicians played funky
before funk was deemed a formal genre.
More to the point, African-Americans
behaved funky in their daily lives. Like soul,
funk stemmed from the blues, its unique
worldview and art de vivre.
Defining and refining the music in the mid
‘60s was James Brown. His credo was the
‘one’, the placing of a hard, bold accent on
the first beat of the bar to give the principal
rhythm of a song its fulcrum, its regimental
sense of gravity.
The word had no exact meaning. On the
one hand it denoted a rousing energy or
punch, a certain vigour in speech,
behaviour or character. On the other hand
funk referred to sadness, depression or
strong odours, smells not quite as pleasant
as the heavenly aroma of a sweet potato pie.
The one. So simple yet so meaningful: a
directive that facilitates an iron grip on the
music all the while allowing a freedom of
expression. When the listener locks in to the
groove, safe in the constant throb of the
‘one’, the dancer invariably finds dizzying
liberation.
Binding these two connotations is the
fundamental idea of emphasis. Funk is intensity
in sensation, be it sweet or unsavoury, bad
meaning bad or bad meaning good.
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Although the ‘funky drummer’, as
immortalized by the likes of Brown’s
hallowed sidemen Clyde Stubblefield and
John ‘Jabo’ Starks, is a quintessential figure
in the annals of the music, Brown the vocalist
is not to be underestimated.
In one elongated note, an enervated, almost
pained scream that transmutes field holler
to church sermon to blues shout, the funk is
made as real as the coldest of cold sweat.
The music is not an out of body experience.
It is an in the body contagion.
Beyond the bedrock of spirituals and gospel
this expression reaches back to Africa both
vocally and rhythmically. Brown’s phrasal
explosions and use of sharp, entrancing
pentatonic scales to create a frenzied
percolation of bass and guitar, had
parallels with West African balaphone and
mbira patterns.
key Brown collaborator, as well as the storied
Afrobeat veteran Tony Allen, British/Nigerian
rapper Ty, vocalist Wunmi and the zestful
South African debutante Simphiwe Dana.
From Nigeria comes Seun Kuti, son of Fela
and worthy heir to the throne of Afrobeat,
the music that combined politics, sexuality
and perambulating riffs set to vast
arrangements.
From Algeria comes Khaled, the iconic
champion of rai, the street music that can
groove with searing intensity and from
Brazil comes the unremittingly eclectic
Carlinhos Brown, an artist whose audacious
evolution has not compromised the essential
earthiness of his work.
Brown also drew inspiration from the
percussive technique of the region’s master
Hi-life drummers such as Tony Allen, who
would subsequently become the rhythmic
anchor for the music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti,
a visionary influenced by James Brown
among others.
From Ethiopia comes the dazzling coterie of
vocalists and instrumentalists - Mahmoud
Ahmed, Mulatu Astaqé, Gétatchèw
Mèkurya and Alèmayèhu Eshèté – who built
a bridge between soul, funk, jazz, rock &
roll and the indigenous rhythms of ‘swinging
Addis’ in the ‘70s.
Hence, funk, although an intrinsically
American music, has a global DNA. Groove
Nations is a celebration of the music’s
extended family, the kith and kin that have
emerged in the years that followed the
moment James Brown put his good foot
forward, did the double bump and felt like
kissing himself. Funk is a rhythmic language;
each territory in this celebration accents the
music in its own particular way.
Lastly, from America comes the living
monument of black music that is Solomon
Burke, a peer of James Brown, who brought
grit and grandeur to soul, the older sibling
of funk.
From Senegal comes the brilliant singermulti-instrumentalist Cheikh Lô, a man
whose collaboration with ex-Brown
sideman ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis has cemented the
transatlantic funk fraternity.
Together these artists show how far and
wide funk has stretched, how many
geographical and sonic borders it has
crossed to bring together, in a manner of
which George Clinton, one of James Brown’s
most fantastical apprentices would approve,
more than one nation under a groove.
© Kevin Le Gendre May 2008
In a special tribute to Soul Brother No 1
these peerless artists are joined by
trombonist Fred Wesley, another
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Wed 28 May 7.30pm
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
+ Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80:
Oluwaseun Anikulapo-Kuti lead vocalist
Tajudeen Olalekan Animasahun
musical director/keyboard
Adedimeji Rilwan Fagbemi baritone sax
Oyinade Adeniran tenor sax
Oluwuyiwa Emmanuel Kunnuji trumpet
Olugbade Peter Okunade trumpet
Kunle Justice bass guitar (& keyboard?)
Bolanle Sedomo Kamson singer/dancer
Motunrayo Anikulapo Kuti singer/dancer
Iyabo Folashade Adeniran
singer/dancer
David Obanyedo lead guitar
Alade Oluwagbemiga guitar
Ajayi Raimi Adebiyi drums
Kola Onasanya giant conga
Olawele Toriola percussion
Okon Iyamba percussion/shekere
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Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats:
Geraldo Pino lead vocalist
Amoni Opakuma band leader
Buster Birch drums
Francis Fuster percussion
Ed Bentley keyboards
Sam Djenque bass
Phil Dawson guitar
Dave Lewis saxophone
Claude Deppa trumpet
Son of the late, great founder of Afrobeat
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Seun is a worthy heir to
his father’s stupendous musical throne. He is
known for high octane performances in which
his boundless, infectious energy invariably
has audiences on their feet by the end of the
first number let alone the end of the night.
A performer since the tender age of nine,
Seun cut his teeth by opening shows for his
father at the legendary club, The Shrine in
Lagos. When Fela passed, he became the
leader of his last great band, Egypt 80 and
proceeded to stamp his own personality on
his father’s singular creative vision.
Bolstered by several of the musicians who
played with Fela for decades, Egypt 80 is a
compellingly authentic representation of
Afrobeat, the music that whirled the bounce
of Nigerian hi-life and the strut of Georgian
funk into a glorious polyrhythmic carousel.
Playing saxophone as well as singing, Seun has
inherited something of his father’s charisma
and stands as a superb front man, directing
scores of chorus singers and musicians.
Having toured internationally for the past two
decades, Seun, still in his twenties, has
developed a great confidence and magnetic
stage presence that have consolidated his
reputation on the live circuit. Although Fela
Kuti recorded extensively during his career,
his live gigs, often marathon affairs in which
songs would stretch to epic lengths, were the
stuff of legend and Seun has fully understood
this, making sure that every concert becomes
an extended ritualistic jam. Hearing him
breathe new energy into Fela classics such
as Suffering And Smiling, Army Arrangement
and B.B.C [Big Blind Country] alongside his
own original pieces like Mosquito Song
should make for a Groove Nation highlight.
Expect infectious party grooves and afrobeats from long lost hero of afro-soul funk,
Sierra Leonian Geraldo Pino, who reunites
with Francis Fuster and The Heartbeats
especially for this concert.
Produced by The Barbican
There will be one interval in tonight’s concert.
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Sat 14 Jun 8pm
Still Black Still Proud
An African Tribute to James Brown
Pee Wee Ellis saxophone/vocals
Fred Wesley trombone/vocals
Cheikh Lo guitar/vocals
Tony Allen drums/vocals
Simphiwe Dana vocals
Vieux Farka Touré kora
Ty rapper/MC
Fred Ross vocals/backing vocals
Wunmi vocals/backing vocals
James Morton alto sax
Tony Remy guitar
Vicky Edimo bass
Richard Olatunde Baker percussion/vocals
Peter Madsen keyboards
Guido May drums
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Anchoring tonight’s rhythm section is
another emblematic African musician, Tony
Allen, the drummer who helped Fela Kuti
define Afrobeat back in the ‘70s. As he
recently showed on the African Soul Rebels
tour, Allen is a very complete artist, capable
of composing inventively as well as holding
down intricate rhythms in which he is liable
to shift the pulse of the music without losing
its relentless thrust.
From South Africa comes the highly promising
new vocalist Simphiwe Dana, already
winning plaudits for On Bantu Biko Street, a
beautifully orchestrated album that entwines
big band jazz and township harmonies to
great effect. As impressive a lead vocalist as
Dana is, she attaches great importance to
chorus singing in her music, primarily
because her indigenous culture is decisively
rooted in the flourish of the ensemble as well
as the individual voice.
Although James Brown was a law unto
himself, he would not have been able to
change the course of popular music without
the input of a superlative cast of
accompanists. Among his revered horn
section, tenor saxophonist Alfred ‘Pee Wee’
Ellis and trombonist Fred Wesley stood tall.
Pee wee was fundamental in the
architecture of funk, having collaborated
with Brown in writing Cold Sweat, widely
regarded as being the seminal moment
when funk was crystallized into a genre.
This collective energy is also a key
component of the work of all the artists
appearing in this tribute to a great man,
who despite his monumental character and
individuality, fully recognized the absolute
premium of a stellar band.
Tonight they grace the stage alongside a
string of influential African artists to form an
international band that celebrates the transcontinental traffic between US funk and its
Motherland antecedents.
Added to the rhythmic mix tonight is Malian
blues guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, fusing the
rich Malian musical traditions reminiscent of
his late father Ali Farka Touré with the
vibrant modern-day Mali-beat.
The Senegalese artist Cheikh Lô, a man who
moves seamlessly from vocals to guitar to
drums, will have no problem fitting into the
groove, having worked extensively with Ellis
on acclaimed albums such as Lamp Fall.
Keeping alive his Nigerian roots is Londonborn hip-hop artist Ty, (a previous Tony Allen
collaborator) whose second album Upwards,
a powerful blend of astute lyrics and vintage
grooves, was nominated for a Mercury prize.
Still Black, Still Proud is thus about the whole
being greater than the sum of the parts,
even though the parts are very much to be
reckoned with in their own right. The
marked contrast in the vocal styles of
Simphiwe Dana and Wunmi, the former
demure and understated, the latter
energetic and gutsy, as well as the rich
rhythmic palette presented by Tony Allen
and Cheikh Lô, topped off by the
sophisticated riffing of horn maestros Pee
Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley, will surely make
for a compelling celebration of the rich
legacy of James Brown. Saying it loud, his
spirit is still crossing boundaries, freighting a
motherlode from the Motherland.
James Brown
Film Event 5pm Cinema 3
James Brown: Soul
Survivor 15
Cheikh Lô
Jeremy Marre’s sensational chronicle of the
life and times of the great James Brown.
Featuring performances, interviews and hits
It’s a Man’s World, Say It Loud and many more.
UK 2003 Dir. Jeremy Marre 85 min.
Tickets £8.50 / £6 memb, concs & concert
ticket holders
Simphiwe Dana
Freestage from 6pm
ClubStage directly after the concert
Yaaba Funk
Where have all the
Panthers gone?
Yaaba Funk are a 10-piece Hi Life/AfroFunk explosion. A product of Brixton and
influenced by 1970’s Ghanaian hi-life, funky
sounds of James Brown and UK sounds like
Roots Manuva and The Specials. A floorfilling extravaganza combining the tightest
rhythm section this side of Accra, fat
analogue basslines, blazing horns, and
gritty rock guitars.
+ DJs Max Reinhardt & Rita Ray
A musical, visual and spoken word elegy
to a movement that seems to have
disappeared until now. With the Shrine
Syncrosystem, Byron Wallen & Roger
Robinson.
Produced by The Barbican
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Sat 21 Jun 8pm
Khaled
+ Maurice El Médioni
Khaled voice
Mohamed Berkane-Krachai violin
Abdelouahed Zaim Oud
Alain Perez guitar
Elie Chameli keyboards
Mustapha Didouh keyboard
Maurice Zemmour bass
Daniel Shmitt drums
Bachir Mokari percussion
Maurice El Médioni piano
Marco Maimaran percussion
Rai is the music of the streets of Oran,
Algeria and Khaled its king. Since making
his debut in 1992 with his eponymous album
that spawned the enormous hit Didi, the
singer has gone on to become an icon in his
homeland and a household name in
France. Further recordings such as the
soundtrack to Bertrand Blier’s film 1-2-3
Soleil as well as the single Aicha have
cemented Khaled’s status as a Sono
Mondiale giant.
A raunchy, edgy genre that stands in
opposition to the classical style of alandalous, rai is the music born of the lower
rungs of Algerian society who have a
penchant for improvising lyrics, mostly on
risqué themes, set to rhythms derived from
Bedoui tribes. Electric guitars, keyboards,
horns and percussion are now part of the
standard set-up of most rai bands, many of
which can groove with undimmed intensity.
Khaled, who made a devastating impact at
the first Rai Festival in Oran over two
decades ago, has made a significant
contribution to the music’s repertoire,
proving a bundle of energy on albums like
Hada Raykoum while his more overtly
political nature surfaced on Fuir Mais Ou?
Blessed with an imperious but tender tone,
Khaled is an outstanding interpreter of
melody with great force and clarity in his
projection and enviable control in his use of
sensual long tones.
Above all he has a complete sense of
emotional investment in whatever he sings
that enables him to create a fever pitch of
excitement in performance. Didi remains to
Khaled what Sex Machine was to James
Brown, a timeless anthem whose infectious
chorus and hypnotic riffs have become a
vivid symbol of the vitality of a whole genre
of music and the culture that underpins it.
Opening the show tonight is eclectic
Algerian pianist Maurice El Médioni, mixing
Boogie Woogie, Jazz and Latin styles, with
influences from the Maghreb and Andalusia.
Produced by Serious
There will be one interval in tonight’s concert.
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9
Tue 24 Jun 7.30pm
Carlinhos Brown
+ Mr Catra
Carlinhos Brown artist/band leader
Mikael Mutti Ramos keys
Ana Teresa Santos Oliveira chorus &
dancer
Cristiane Maria Andrade Britto Silva
chorus & dancer
Julio Medeiros Batista guitar
Carlos Alberto Araújo dos Reis guitar
Elbermário Rodrigues Barbosa
percussion
Marcos Bertolino Santos de Freitas
percussion
André Reis de Jesus percussion
João Luis Lago de Jesus trumpet
Rowney Archibald Scott Júnior sax
Ronaldo Borges dos Santos bass
Mr Catra:
Mr Catra vocals
Dj Edgar turntables
According to whatever gospel one chooses
to believe, Antonio Carlos Santos De Freitas
either adopted the stage name Carlinhos
Brown as a tribute to Soul Brother No 1 or
as a dedication to the rather more obscure
Box Brown, an African-American slave who
managed to escape bondage by hiding in
a casket. In either case, Carlinhos has
dutifully upheld the spirit of both these
historical figures, making music that is
inventively funky, all the while constantly
breaking out of any categories that critics
attempt to place him in.
Born and raised in Salvador, Bahia, the
Brazilian state that has vividly retained
African culture, Brown learned percussion
as a child before becoming a member of
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Luis Caldas’ Acorde Verde, a group that is
largely recognized as one of the innovators
of samba reggae. Throughout the ‘80s and
‘90s he either wrote or toured with Brazil’s
sacré monstres Caetano Veloso, João
Gilberto and Djavan before going on to
front Timbalada, a band that featured 100
percussionists.
In the last decade Brown has continued to
show an insatiable appetite for solo projects
and collaborations, releasing a string of
albums under his own name as well as
forming the Brazilian supergroup, Tribalistas
with Marisa Monte and Arnaldo Antunes.
Given the broad artistic sweep of his work to
date, it is almost impossible to predict what
Brown will do next. Every new record brings
surprises just as every concert appearance
usually involves spectacle on a grand scale.
However a constant feature of Brown’s
creativity has been his ambitious use of
drums and percussion as well as his desire
to create novel textures often on custommade instruments. His ability to entwine
Bahian rhythms with funk, rock and
electronica has yielded music that is hard to
classify but easy to be excited by, and, more
to the point, dance to.
Warming up the occasion in fine style is one
of Rio De Janeiro’s sassiest funkateers, star
of high-energy favela funk carioca, Mr
Catra, in his first UK appearance..
Produced by The Barbican
There will be one interval in tonight’s concert.
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Fri 27 Jun 8pm
Éthiopiques
Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatqé,
Gétachèw Mèkurya, Alèmayèhu Eshèté
+ Either/Orchestra
Éthiopiques:
Mahmoud Ahmed vocals
Mulatu Astatqé vibraphone/congas/
keyboard
Gétachèw Mèkurya vocals
Alèmayèhu Eshèté tenor saxophone
Either/Orchestra:
Russ Gershon bandleader,
tenor/soprano saxophones
Tom Halter trumpet
Dan Rosenthal trumpet
Joel Yennior trombone
Godwin Louis alto saxophone/flute
Charlie Kohlhase baritone saxophone
Rafael Alcala piano/organ
Rick Mclaughlin bass
Pablo Bencid drums
Vicente Lebron congas/percussion
Back in the late ‘60s few musicologists may
have mused on what would happen if
James Brown’s pants-splitting scream were
to be given an Amharic accent but
eventually the world found out just how
glorious that cross-cultural phantasm could
be. By the ‘70s Good Foot and Brand New
Bag-style riffs had entered the vocabulary
of Ethiopian artists alongside jazz, rock &
roll, psychedelia and modal rhythms to
produce a plethora of strange and
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beautiful sounds that have recently come to
light to woo dancers all over planet groove.
Many of the musicians featured on
Ethiopiques, the 23 volume series of reissues of classic Ethiopian music researched
and collated by the producer Francis
Falceto, were highly trained players who
worked either in Haile Selassie’s Imperial
Guard Orchestra or in the Police Band in
Addis Ababa.
Years later the likes of singer Mahmoud
Ahmed, who dazzled the Barbican
audience when he performed after winning
the Africa award at the 2007 World Music
awards, are still going strong, appearing
regularly in their homeland and now
increasingly around the world.
As for Mulatu Astaqué he is one of the great
composer-conceptualists of Ethiopian music,
a pianist/vibraphone player who studied
jazz in America and England before
returning home to record a number of
brilliant albums in the late ‘60s that showed
how effectively he had absorbed the
harmonic complexity of Ellington and
Strayhorn without compromising his strong
local musical identity.
Another veteran player, the tenor
saxophonist Gétatchèw Mèkurya, is revered
for pioneering a distinctively gruff, guttural
style that was inspired by the shellela, the
fearsome battle cry of Ethiopian warriors.
Completing the all star Ethiopiques line-up is
Alèmayèhu Eshèté, a singer with a
voluminous discography who left the
Imperial Guard to make a name for himself
with the independent bands in Addis. With a
raucous, rugged voice capable of the most
ecstatic of wails, Esthete has been rightly
called the ‘James Brown of Ethiopia.’
Setting the mood for this otherworldly
musical excursion is the Either/Orchestra,
the quirky, puckish American big band that
likes its jazz gyroscopic. A recent
collaboration with many of the
aforementioned Ethiopian artists in Addis
has resoundingly confirmed the group’s
desire to engage in the hippest of crosscultural musical adventures.
ClubStage – directly after the concert
Dub Colossus in A Town
Called Addis
+ DJ Cliffy
Nick Page (TransGlobal Underground)
collaborates with musicians and singers
from Addis Ababa including Teremag
Weretow. Plus global beats from DJ Cliffy.
Produced by The Barbican
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Thu 3 Jul 7.30pm
Solomon Burke
+ Breakestra
Solomon Burke vocals
Sophia Perez backing vocals
Candy Burke backing vocals
Raffaella Stirpe viola
Simona Mana violin
Carle Vickers trumpet & saxophone
Daniel Hofmann saxophones
Jonathan Bradley trumpet
Guitar Jack Wargo lead guitar
Rudy Copeland hammond B3
Keith Ladinsky keys
Stoney Dixon bass guitar
Mandale McGee drums
Breakestra:
Mixmaster Wolf
Music Man Miles
Pete 'The Buzzard' Mcneal
Jeremy Ruzumna
Pat 'Snake' Bailey
David Moyer
Chris Bautista
Chuck Prada
A colossus in every sense of the word,
Solomon Burke is part of the generation of
American singers whose roots reach right
back to the time when gospel and rhythm &
blues collided like fairground bumper cars
to produce a glorious new music called
soul. A one time preacher and exponent of
Spirituals whose baritone is so rich it is as
effective reciting a monologue as it is
singing, Burke became feted in secular
music circles in the ‘60s when he cut classics
like Cry To Me and Everybody Needs
Somebody To Love, a piece covered by both
Wilson Pickett and The Rolling Stones.
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Dubbed the king of ‘rock & soul’ for the
electrifying edge that he brought to black
music in the ‘60s, Burke also proved himself
to be an astute performer of music from
other genres and brilliantly adapted a
country song, Just Out Of Reach Of My
Open Arms to enjoy one of his biggest hits.
Burke recorded consistently throughout the
‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, confirming his status as
a legendary figure with releases such as
Definition Of Soul and Soul Alive! The last
five years have seen a renewal of interest in
his work that culminated in the star-studded
country album, Nashville and a UK tour with
Jools Holland that ended with two sell-out
shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
A peer of Sam Cooke, James Brown and
Ray Charles, Solomon Burke is rightly
considered to be living musical history, one
of the great founding fathers of soul music
who can recall first hand the wild excitement
of appearing at Harlem’s fabled Apollo
theatre while a young Bobby Womack was
waiting nervously in the wings.
Supporting Burke tonight is the Los Angeles
combo Breakestra, a group that specializes
in playing live the funkiest beats and
samples heard on today’s hip-hop records
to create an organic celebration of rhythms
largely borne of James Brown, a messianic
soul of blessed blackness.
© Kevin Le Gendre May 2008
There will be one interval in tonight’s concert.
do something different
Book Now
www.barbican.org.uk/
contemporary
(Reduced booking fee online)
0845 120 7557 (bkg fee)
Fri 20 Jun 7.30pm
Tue 8 Jul 7.30pm
Ólafur Arnalds
Branford Marsalis
Quartet
+ Yndi Halda
Strings, beats and electronics from
Iceland
+ Andrew McCormack Trio
Fri 4 Jul 7.30pm
Wed 9 Jul 7.30pm
Zakir Hussain’s
Masters of Percussion
Maria Schneider
Orchestra
+ Debashish Bhattacharya
+ Portico Quartet
Sat 5 Jul 7.30pm
An Honest Jon’s
Chop Up!
with the Hypnotic Brass
Ensemble, Damon
Albarn, Tony Allen, Lobi
Traoré, Candi Staton,
Kokanko Sata + more
Sun 27 Jul 7.30pm
Gary Burton Quartet
Revisited
With Pat Metheny,
Steve Swallow and
Antonio Sanchez
Summer events now on sale: see our website for the latest updates
www.barbican.org.uk/contemporary
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