Toubab Krewe - Hang Tan
Asheville, N.C., may not seem like a stronghold for African-rooted
music, but Toubab Drewe has soaked up the patterns and rhythms of music
from Mal, Zimbabwe, Congo, Brazil and the Caribbean and added a hint of
Jerry Garcia's legato guitar. One guitarist doubled on Malian instruments
- kora and ngoni - and two drummers played interludes of planned unison
rhythms like Brazilian sambareggae percussion unit. Instead of free-form,
jam-band leads, the guitarists expanded the songs with African-style
patterns, circling and subtly shifting. The six-beat grooves sneaked up on
listeners but then they took hold; midway through one song, two, then four,
then dozens of dancers were suddenly bobbing to the music.
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Toubab Krewe - Rooster
This adventurous quintet
out of Asheville, North Carolina, has set a new standard for fusions of
rock 'n' roll and
West Afrtican music. With few exceptions - like Mali's Amadou Bagayoko
and
Lobi Traore - not many Africans who attempt the genre have the
necessary
depth and nuance n their rock playing. And as for Americans playing
African music, the obstacles are obvous and plentiful. The fact that these
musicians have studied variously in Mali, Guinea and Ivory Coast, including
a band trip to Conakry, in no way guarantees that they should play West
African music as well as they do. When Justin Perkins rips into a
kamelengoni (12-string version of what is usually a 6-string harp) break
on the song "Bani," it's hard to believe that you are not
hearing a young turk from Mali's Wassoulou country tearing lose with his
hottest riffs. His kora playing is also quite good, particulary on the
band's version of the traditional Manding song
quot;Salimou."
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Toubab Krewe - Devil Woman
Toubab Krewe's take on
African music is about as good as it gets without buying a plane ticket.
Although most of the group's members hail from Asheville, North Carolina,
bassist David Pransky lives in Cabot, and they sometimes rehearse in the
Green Mountains. The quintet recently wowed audiences at the Bonnaroo
Festival in Tennessee,
and they'll play Alban, Vermont's Northeast Kingdom Music Festival in
August. Fans of top-notch world music well want to pick up a copy of
Toubab Krewe's self-titled debut well before then.
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