aaamusic | On 01, Aug 2011

This is the 21^st vinyl album in the split series of Fat Cat Records, combining two groups of experimental artists.

Firstly, Los Angeles Foot Village, active since 2007, contributes a 16 minute hardcore tribal chant, Let Bebongs Be Bebongs Idiot, about youthfulness and friendship. They drum and shout, without electronics or amplification and describe themselves as the “loudest Acoustic Rock Band Ever.” The quartet is Grace Lee, Brian Miller, Dan Rowan and Josh Taylor.

 

Secondly, Super Khoumeissa is an African folk dance group of six musicians and four dancers from Gao, on the banks of the Niger River in the north of Mali. They represent traditional Takamba, the most widespread musical style of the region. They’re more subtle. They play traditional three stringed instruments (the Tehardent or Ngoni), amplified to build and distort the sound, together with the traditional gourd percussion instrument, the Calabasse.

 

The three tracks, Ai Baka, Khoumeissa and Zololo
are their first official releases since their creation in 1990. The rhythms and complex harmonies tell tales of love and life in the Sahara. The members of the group are Zerena Maiga (vocal), Yacouba Toure (ngoni), Abourhamane Idrissa (ngoni), Salif Maiga (calabasse), Mahamar Almou (calabasse) and Boubacar Izia (calabasse). The dancers are Abdoulaye Toure, Salimata Haidara, Tazouden Samake, and Zeinabou Maiga.

 

Whether this album is hypnotic and compelling or annoying and repetitive is really up to the listener to decide. Is Foot Village depicting a new civilization built after a foreseeable apocalypse? Well, there’s certainly great energy, momentum and drama to this album but we’ll have wait to see whether or not we’re being taken on an epic journey.

 

 

Anthony Weightman