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Take a global tour close to home
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Orange County Register, Take a global tour close to home >>
Friday, November 5, 2004
A host of world-music acts perform in Southern California this weekend.
By RICHARD CHANG
The Orange County Register
The election has passed, but the Earth keeps on turning.
Just as the eyes of the world are upon us, so is the music of the world. A bevy of world-music acts are performing in the region this weekend.
Tonight at the Cerritos Center, African songstress Angelique Kidjo will perform. The Benin-born diva is perhaps the most popular woman on the world-music stage today. She's certainly Africa's best- known chanteuse.
Kidjo is a true crossover, combining West African sounds with soul, funk, R&B and rock. She has a new album, "Oyaya!," which means "joy" in Yourba, her native language. She's expected to sing in English, French, Yoruba and Fon.
Also on the Cerritos bill tonight is Euge Groove, a saxophone player who has toured and recorded with the Gap Band, Bonnie Raitt and Tower of Power.
On Saturday, a trio of Latin American women singers - Mariana Montalvo of Chile, Totó La Momposina of Colombia, and Belô Velloso of Brazil - will grace the stage at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.
Like many musicians from Chile, Montalvo was forced into exile when Augusto Pinochet took power in a military coup in 1974. She now lives in Paris.
"I had been away for 25 years," Montalvo said in a telephone interview."Then I returned in 1999. Since that time, I go once or twice a year. I love my country. Even though I live in Paris, I'm Chilean, of course."
Montalvo, 51, specializes in the nueva canción tradition - a South American musical movement that emerged in the 1960s and '70s.
"The words are very important," she said. "Musically, it's 'new traditional,' or 'new folklore.' If I'm in this tradition, I want to say beautiful things with my songs. Love, social problems, women's stories, legends."
Instruments typically used in nueva canción are the charango, a small guitar often made from an armadillo's shell; the quena, a notched, end-blown flute; and the zampoña, or panpipes.
"I take music from all over Latin America," she said. "If I find it goes good with a Venezuelan instrument, I'll do it."
Montalvo's latest release is "Piel de Aceituna" ("Olive- Skinned"), available in this country on the World Village label.
A legend in her home country, Colombia's Totó La Momposina will make a rare Southern California appearance at the Irvine Barclay.
Momposina's sound is cumbia with a traditional big band. She also taps into Colombian roots music, with several instruments and vocals from the nation's indigenous and African past.
"We're proud of our Colombian roots," she said. "In this job, we try to project the traditional music, with all the instruments."
In 2002, Momposina released the eclectic and rich "Pacantó" on World Village. Her latest is "Carmelina" ("Yard High"), a rhythmic exploration of Colombia's dense musical history.
"In 2050, all of America and all of the world will speak Spanish," said the feisty, 64-year-old singer.
Belô Velloso is the niece of two of Brazil's most popular musicians, Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia. Velloso grew up in Bahia, the region with the strongest African influence. She also cut her teeth on MPB (popular Brazilian music), samba and bossa nova. She's on her first U.S.tour, and will make her West Coast debut Saturday.
Tinariwen is a group from Mali, a collection of Tuareg nomads from Western Sahara. The band plays stripped-down desert rock with basic yet tasty guitar licks, and male and female vocalists singing of war, ancestors and wandering.
The band made a splash at the venerable Festival in the Desert concert in January 2003. Scores of Africans, Europeans and Americans gathered in Essakane, Mali, for the three-day event.
Tinariwen has two albums released by World Village: "Radio Tisdas Sessions" in 2002 and "Amassakoul" in October.
The group will perform at the Claremont Colleges on Saturday and the Cerritos Center on Sunday. Joining them will be fellow Malians Markus James and Ramatou Diakite for a mini-festival revival. Ben Harper is also expected to make a guest appearance.
Finally, Lebanese composer Marcel Khalifé will appear Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. A master oud (Arabic lute) player, Khalifé has performed throughout the world and has developed a style that stretches beyond the traditional confines of his instrument.
He incorporates jazz, Western classical and Eastern European currents into his sound. With a free-spirited, exploratory spirit running through his work, it's not surprising that he's also worked on a number of film soundtracks.
Khalifé's latest album is "Caress," released this year on Nagam Records. He will be joined Saturday by his talented band, Al Mayadine Ensemble.
Expect some interesting improvisations. 11/05/04
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