Post by grumpy on Feb 18, 2006 22:26:27 GMT
A brief report on the opening night of the African Soul Rebels tour from the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester last night.
It opened with a generous set from Souad Massi and her band in which she performed quite a few songs from her recent release including the title track Mesk Alil, and she also sang one or two old favourites such as Bab el Ma'adi and the rousing Y'awladi. Massi is a singer I like a lot though I have to admit to a slight disappointment with her recent album and also with this concert and I think I've realised what it is that's bothering me. I don't know whether it has to do with her moving to France to live but her voice seems to have smoothed out and become, dare I say it, just a tad bland. This was particularly apparent when she duetted with her percussion player who had a wonderful rugged Berber voice full of Arabic gutturals - they complemented each other to perfection and by far the best songs (eg Bab el Ma'adi) featured him. But in the songs where she sang on her own, there seemed to be a spark missing somehow. Still very good but never quite took off though an amusing moment was when she tried to get the audience to sing along in Arabic. We failed miserably.
There followed a shortish set from Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal and if Massi and her band were sleek and rehearsed to perfection, Jal's set by contrast gave the impression of being still very much at the early workshop stage. He was accompanied by a bloke on the decks, a female singer from London and a session guitarist who may very well have been plucked from a Manchester street about half an hour before the concert (his name was Chris). The first two songs, "War Child" and "Love Revolution" were utterly shambolic which was a shame as the first was a kind of autobiography and Jal's story is worth hearing. Orphan child soldier who literally chose love in order to survive. Fortunately the third and fourth songs "Aiwa" and "Gua" relied rather more on backing tapes and were consequently a little more coherent and melodic. I think his set will improve as the tour continues and the band play together more and rehearse a bit. This was the opening night and it rather showed.
There then followed the bill toppers Amadou and Mariam. For the first four songs, culminating with Dimanche a Bamako and Coulibaly, they had the house rocking. Then all of a sudden I began to get just a little restless. Their whole set was full ahead high octane rock, expertly played of course; the djembe (?) drummer was particularly superb. But as Amadou and the band launched into another extended 100mph instrumental workout and he kept shouting out "Are you feeling alright?" over and over again, I began to long for a slower, subtler tune just for a touch of contrast, a little light and shade, a stray balaphon or kora. And it would have been nice if Mariam had featured in proceedings a little more. But that's a smallish criticism. A good night over all and you certainly shouldn't miss it; I'ld give it about 7 or 8 out of 10.
Tour details here:
www.musicbeyondmainstream.co.uk/
It opened with a generous set from Souad Massi and her band in which she performed quite a few songs from her recent release including the title track Mesk Alil, and she also sang one or two old favourites such as Bab el Ma'adi and the rousing Y'awladi. Massi is a singer I like a lot though I have to admit to a slight disappointment with her recent album and also with this concert and I think I've realised what it is that's bothering me. I don't know whether it has to do with her moving to France to live but her voice seems to have smoothed out and become, dare I say it, just a tad bland. This was particularly apparent when she duetted with her percussion player who had a wonderful rugged Berber voice full of Arabic gutturals - they complemented each other to perfection and by far the best songs (eg Bab el Ma'adi) featured him. But in the songs where she sang on her own, there seemed to be a spark missing somehow. Still very good but never quite took off though an amusing moment was when she tried to get the audience to sing along in Arabic. We failed miserably.
There followed a shortish set from Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal and if Massi and her band were sleek and rehearsed to perfection, Jal's set by contrast gave the impression of being still very much at the early workshop stage. He was accompanied by a bloke on the decks, a female singer from London and a session guitarist who may very well have been plucked from a Manchester street about half an hour before the concert (his name was Chris). The first two songs, "War Child" and "Love Revolution" were utterly shambolic which was a shame as the first was a kind of autobiography and Jal's story is worth hearing. Orphan child soldier who literally chose love in order to survive. Fortunately the third and fourth songs "Aiwa" and "Gua" relied rather more on backing tapes and were consequently a little more coherent and melodic. I think his set will improve as the tour continues and the band play together more and rehearse a bit. This was the opening night and it rather showed.
There then followed the bill toppers Amadou and Mariam. For the first four songs, culminating with Dimanche a Bamako and Coulibaly, they had the house rocking. Then all of a sudden I began to get just a little restless. Their whole set was full ahead high octane rock, expertly played of course; the djembe (?) drummer was particularly superb. But as Amadou and the band launched into another extended 100mph instrumental workout and he kept shouting out "Are you feeling alright?" over and over again, I began to long for a slower, subtler tune just for a touch of contrast, a little light and shade, a stray balaphon or kora. And it would have been nice if Mariam had featured in proceedings a little more. But that's a smallish criticism. A good night over all and you certainly shouldn't miss it; I'ld give it about 7 or 8 out of 10.
Tour details here:
www.musicbeyondmainstream.co.uk/