Label: Birdman
Release Date: Feb 08, 2000
Blues
This CD is to the 21st century what Brian Jones's Jajouka recordings were to the past one. In his 90s, Othar Turner plays Mississippi hill-country music that retains the funky flavor of its African roots. Othar's first release, 1998's Everybody Hollerin' Goat is as good an introduction to the evolution of blues as is likely to ever be recorded. This new one pairs Othar's fife and drum corps with Senegalese musicians from Chicago, matching marching-band drums to their African mates, an acoustic slide guitar to the kora, and affirming the timeless, universal supremacy of the human breath--in this case blown magnificently by Othar through a fife made from common bamboo. The music blends easily and naturally. The drums hit you in the gut, the slide-guitar sounds roll all round your brain, and the fife makes your heart skip a beat. Like Jim Dickinson's liner notes say, world boogie is coming.
By Robert Gordon.
**
Mississippi fife legend Turner is joined on this outing by a loose union of players billed as the Afrosippi All Stars. This makeshift band is comprised of members of Turner's family, visiting Senegalese musicians, a university percussion student/organizer, and slide guitarist/producer/North Mississippi All Star Luther Dickinson. Their sympathetic accompaniment on African percussion, kora, and bottleneck guitar give "Shimmy She Wobble," "Station Blues," and Bounce Ball -- reprised from his recording debut, Everybody Hollerin' Goat -- a depth lacking on his earlier versions. Traditional African drums exchange rhythms with marching-band snares and bass drums. Staccato kora melodies complement whining slide guitar riffs. And Turner's shrill, archaic fife floats freely over it all. The title track is the album's most distinctly African number, and probably the only track here easy on the listener's ears. The closing "Sunu" is five minutes of nothing but drums. This is hardly good-time music for casual blues listeners or weekend world music fans, but it's important music all the same, bridging, as it does, great distances between continents and traditions.
By Brian Beatty.
**
Otha Turner- (Fife), (Vocals),
Morikeba Kouyate- (Performer),
Andre Evans- (Performer),
Luther Dickinson- (Guitar),
R.L. Boyce- (Performer)
**
01. Shimmy She Wobble 4.43
02. Station Blues 4.55
03. Bounce Ball 3.44
04. Shimmy She Wobble II 5.13
05. Stripes 10.38
06. Senegal to Senatobia 8.51
07. Glory, Glory Hallelujah 5.02
08. Sunu
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