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Technobeat, CD Review
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The Beat, Technobeat, CD Review >>
I seldom run smack dab into a recording that's as production-perfect as Watina (Cumbancha) without all the knob-twiddling processing out the vitality. But this Belizean-produced disc has power as well as polish. 1 love how it opens up in flower fashion when I pop on a pair of headphones, revealing bottomless levels of nuance and squeaky clean, satisfying sound. But even under less than ideal conditions, Watina rules. Once I unplug the ear cans to let Andy Palacio's voice fill the room, although the subtleties may be lost to the hum of traffic and the squeaks and squawks of our eight pet birds, it still thrills me while spreading joy to the floorboards and furniture, too.
Garifuna music stalwart Palacio hitches his pliable pipes to hook-filled tunes that pierce the emotive heart of West African traditions while also burrowing into reggae, French Caribbean and Cuban influences. Producer extraordinaire Ivan Duran, who also plays in the Garifuna Collective musical ensemble supporting Palacio, drenches the songs in memorable arrangements and instrumental touches that make each track distinctive, yet unmistakably part of the whole. It's not just the peppy clave-driven rhythm that sets "Miami" apart from the more meditative tracks, it's a whole complicated ambience thing. A nasal female chorus plays off a mellow electric guitar to distinguish "Weyu Larigi Weyu." "Baha" kicks off with a riff resembling the opening bars of Company Segundo's Cuban classic "Chan Chan." only to turn all hymnal in the burnished glow of a French horn texture and Palacio's plaintive, octave-hopping voice.
There's a full year's worth of listening on Watina, if you plan on taking in the enormity of what's here. Paul Nabor joins Palacio on "Ayo Da," a poignant song that the Garifuna legend wrote some 60 years ago. while "Aguyuha Niduhenu" (My People Have Moved ) and other tracks interweave the past and future of threatened Garifuna traditions. It's a fantastic recording that makes me thirst for more of Ivan Duran's Stonetree Records releases. 03/01/07
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