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Concert Review
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Chicago Tribune, Concert Review >>
Without Borders knows no limits in debut
By Joshua Klein
Special to the Tribune
Let's face it: When people talk about "world music," what they really mean is "rest of the world music," as if the bulk of the non-English-speaking planet is up to something totally different.
The organizers of the city's aptly named Music Without Borders series, which brought rising international stars Seu Jorge and Amadou & Mariam to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millen nium Park for a free concert Thursday night, get the idea, and good for them. With pop music coming from every corner of the globe, boundaries (both real and genre-based) are becoming irrelevant. The challenge is get ting people to listen.
To that end, both Brazil's Jorge and the Malian duo Ama dou & Mariam were great choic es to inaugurate the new series.
Jorge has a strong but not exceptional voice, and as a song-writer, he sticks to simple and straightforward melodies. But he has undeniable charisma. Helped by his percussion-heavy band rough like street musicians one song, slick the next - he quickly had the crowd dancing in the aisles, whether he was offering the gentle samba groove of "Carolina" or just-shy-of-furious funk.
In fact, when Jorge played two of his trademark David Bowie interpretations, "Rebel, Rebel" and "Ziggy Stardust," the crowd seemed to take the detour as bit of a breather, ironic given the Bowie covers have played large part in Jorge's steadily growing popularity.
Amadou & Mariam have even more going in their favor, from perfect back story (the couple met at Mali's Institute for Young Blind People) to practical skills: both Amadou Bagayoko and his wife Mariam Doumbia are distinctive singers and charming presences, while Amadou has grown into a great guitarist. Never mind the infectious playing of the fusion band that's helped spread their music around the world, it was Amadou's sinewy runs and circular solos that took center stage.
Like Jorge, the group easily transcended any language barrier, inspiring the large crowd in the pavilion and on the lawn, many on their feet or in motion, to chant along with the chorus of "Pauvre Type" (which loosely means "Poor Guy"), Shouts of "fatigue, malheureux, miserable!" may be commonplace at French protests, but they're usually pretty foreign on the lakefront, especially delivered with a celebratory smile.
And there was reason to celebrate too. The double billing (something of an encore for two of the best-received performers at last fall's World Music Festi val) was enough to draw a di verse, cross-section of the city crowd that would make any pro moter jealous. White, black, young, old, and everything in between keep the good music coming, in whatever language and from whatever country, and they'll keep coming back.
ctc-tempo@tribune.com
07/01/06 >> go there
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