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Over the past 30 years, British folk musicians Su Hart and Martin Cradick have been developing a distinct fusion of traditional Cameroonian vocal music with western instrumentation. Their 1993 debut record Spirits of the Forest, released on Joe Boyd’s Hannibal Records, focused on the female singers of the Baka people, who use a polyphonic style of yodelling to evoke dawn spirits. Hart and Cradick have maintained the relationship over the decades, splitting royalties equally and supporting the community through their Global Music Exchange charity. Sing the World Awake, their first album in 12 years, centres field recordings made with a new Baka generation and deepens their exploration into an ancient oral tradition.
Cradick’s instrumental arrangements are expansive and wide-ranging. Topé Malangui Kpode features sprightly, Ghanaian highlife-inspired guitar melodies and percussive polyrhythms. Fair Molly (Mál Bhán Ní Chuilleanáin) features Gaelic vocals from guest singer Irene O’Meara, and The Swift harnesses the intricate folk sound of Ben Moneypenny’s violin playing. Each song alights on snatches of Baka vocals, although the overall effect of splicing these unique melodies into different genres creates an uneven patchwork of sound.
The album reveals its remarkable power when the Baka ensemble are front and centre. Dance the Dawn beautifully interweaves Mbakolo Elaine’s yearning ululations with finger-picked acoustic guitar and a soft bed of synth melody, gently embellishing her piercing song, while the powerful group vocals of Nahwia Hélène, Loni Julienne, Barma Thérése and Mayo Jacqui ricochet like dub echo on the reggae-inspired We Miss You! The title track is a highlight, featuring a large ensemble of Baka singers who each respond to the soaring yodelling of lead vocalist Loni Julienne to produce an enveloping soundscape of undulating voices. Deeply skilful and strangely moving, when the Baka voices are presented unadorned in full force they are unlike anything else you are likely to find on record.
Also out this month
Turkish psychedelic innovators Baba Zula mark 30 years as a band with XXX (Glitterbeat). Delving into murky, dub-influenced territory, the record blends droning bass with twanging saz melody and sparse darbuka rhythm to produce a charmingly ambient odyssey. A gem of a find, the rerelease of a rare album of 1980s Ethiopian synth experiments by Teodros Makonnen, Teodros Makonnen With His Organ (Muzikawi), is a wistful exploration of Ethio-jazz melodies and early electronic dancefloor sounds. Syrian composer Khaled Kurbeh’s latest album Ithā Sajā (Research) is a profoundly tender collection of solo piano pieces that weave dextrous Iraqi folk rhythms with soothing neoclassical melodies, each inspired by recording at dawn and dusk.
