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Album Review
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The Ripple Effect, Album Review >>
Monday, September 27, 2010
Ripples Around the World - Featuring Elikeh, Janaka, and King Sunny Ade
Elikeh – Adje! Adje!
Afropop from Togo via Washington D.C., and let me tell you, we really got something here. Togolese singer-guitarist Massama Dogo combines afrobeat, rock, roots, and jazz into one trance-inducing, pulse-throbbing mass of sound called “Afro-high.”
And high it is. Elikeh’s new album, Adje Adje! brings forth all the beautiful polyrhythmic passion that makes afropop so delightful, and blends in some serious guitar, some soaring horns, and some gorgeous vocal harmonies. Jubilant, buoyant, festive. Dogo’s lyrics, sung in English, French and the African languages of Ewe and Mina are layered over the nonstop percussive festival that is afrofunk.
I don’t know what each particular song means. In fact, my digital copy of the album doesn’t even have separate song titles, just “Track 1,” and “Track 2”, etc. But this doesn’t bother me. Rather than concentrating on each individual track, when I play Adje! Adje! I take in the whole album at once. One joyous, rebellious celebration of freedom, percussion, rhythm and dance. Beats blend into horns into guitars into vocals back into beats. The entire album percolates and pulsates, as if it wants to jump out of the player and dance itself. Even the songs that are clearly revolutionary mantras bubble with a totally infectious spirit of dance and life. Truly magnificent.
If you are a fan of afropop of any kind, King Sunny to Fela to Toure Kunde, you will find lots to love here. If you’ve never explored afropop before, but wanted a recommendation on a new album to go with the classics of the genre, look no farther. Adje! Adje! has arrived.
09/27/10 >> go there
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