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All That Jazz
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The Beat, All That Jazz >>
[Excerpt]
Ejigayehu “Gigi” Shibabaw shows all the signs of becoming a world-music media darling – and for good reason. Abyssinia Infinite’s Zion Roots (Network LC 6759), the new team effort by Shibabaw, Bill Laswell and an ensemble of excellent players from Ethiopia, Senegal and the U.S., is a lush, ruminative, gentle and subtle recording of traditional and original songs. Though the project is positioned as a band, it really sounds as if arrangements emanate from Gigi’s melodies, for her singing, however delicate, firmly drives the ensemble’s steady-rolling grooves, the melodic contours that the pitched instruments navigate in their accompaniment and the spacey, signature Laswell sounds that decorate this airy production. This duality between delicacy and power is perhaps the definite characteristic of Zion Roots, and probably the core of Gigi’s unique artistic identity. This is a great recording of artistic depth and creative intelligence that reveals its gifts to the listener gradually over time. Gigi will probably become known as a great singer, not for her uncommonly brilliant and dramatic interpretive skills. Gigi and Laswell are New York-based, so if they can get a good enough team around them without having to bring anyone through immigration, perhaps they can overcome the current obstacles to presenting foreign music live in the U.S. I am betting this act would be formidable in concert. This is an indispensable recording and should have been on my top 10 list for 2003, but I received it too late in the year to really get it under my skin. Don’t be surprised if you don’t “get it” on first listening; I didn’t. Give it time. 03/01/04
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