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Bob Duskis of Six Degrees Records discusses Natacha Atlas and Bembeya Jazz
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Savvy Traveler (national radio), Bob Duskis of Six Degrees Records discusses Natacha Atlas and Bembeya Jazz >>
Time now to do a little traveling with our ears through the world of music. Bob Duskis is our music maestro here on the show. Bob's the co-founder of Six Degrees Records up in San Francisco.
Bob, I've been missing you and your tunes. How have you been?
Mr. BOB DUSKIS: I've been well, Diana. It's good to be back. How are you?
NYAD: Well, it's always great to have you. I'm doing great.
So, where are we off to today?
Mr. DUSKIS: Well, we're going to start with a woman who grew up all over the world, but is very well-known for her interpretations of contemporary Arabic-influenced music. Her name is Natacha Atlas. She was born in Belgium, but she has Middle Eastern ancestral roots in both Egypt and Morocco. She grew up in Egypt and Brussels and Greece and England, and all of this sort of multiculturalism has definitely informed her music.
She came to prominence as the singer and belly-dancer for a very influential global fusion band called Trans Global Underground. And for the last few years, Diana, she's been a solo star. You can hear from what we've got, this is excerpts from her new record, this is called "Something Dangerous." You can just hear this incredibly distinctive voice. Natacha Atlas is one of the singers out there, Diana, that once you hear her, there is no mistaking it's--it's Natacha Atlas.
NYAD: Well, what an interesting background. All right, let's listen to diva Natacha Atlas up full.
(Clip of song)
NYAD: She's singing in Arabic here, Bob?
Mr. DUSKIS: In this particular track and on many tracks on the record, she is singing in Arabic. She also sings in English more on this record than any previous solo CD she's done, which is sort of an expansion for her. And perhaps it's an attempt to get her better-known in the United States, which is really the last market for her to--to conquer as really a global superstar.
It's really interesting, though, Diana, she does on this CD, and we have a little snippet from it, a version of James Brown's tune "It's a Man's World."
NYAD: Right.
Mr. DUSKIS: And hearing this particular song, number one, it's sung by a woman, a very strong woman, and sung with sort of these Arabic inflections. It--it definitely--to my ears, it's got to be one of the more original versions of this tune that we've ever heard. So why don't we check out a little bit of that?
(Clip of song)
Mr. DUSKIS: It's probably not a coincidence that a woman, who is known for interpreting Arabic material, is doing this particular song given the relationships between males and females in much of the Arab world. And I think it sort of was a very pointed choice of a cover tune for--for that particular reason.
(Clip of song)
NYAD: Fabulous. What a talent. All right. Well, thanks for the introduction, to me anyway, to Natacha Atlas. Love that.
Mr. DUSKIS: We're going to move next to Africa and specifically Guinea and, even more specifically, a very small town in Guinea called Beyla. And this is a record that celebrates the return of one of the most beloved African groups of the '60s, Diana, called Bembeya Jazz. These guys started in 1961 and they've had a central role in African music for over 35 years now. During the '60s and '70s, it's very interesting, Guinea's president at the time, Sekou Toure, created a system of state-sponsored national orchestras. And he told all these orchestras that they had to, there was no choice in the matter here, Diana, they had to create modern interpretations of Guinea's folkloric music, their traditional music. But they had to put a modern twist on it, so the kids could get into it, so to speak. And the band that sort of arose and went to the top of the heap and that was the most popular was this group, Bembeya Jazz. And what they did is they mixed Guinean folk music with Cuban style rumba music from the Congo.
They played at the height of their popularity, Diana, six nights a week in Guinea, that's how popular this band was.
NYAD: Wow. Let's hear them.
(Clip of song)
NYAD: After the '60s, coming back after this big hiatus, are they popular like that again?
Mr. DUSKIS: It's just starting for these guys. In 1973, their lead singer, who really was very charismatic and very popular, died in a car crash. They sort of limped along till 1990, 1991 without him, and then they sort of called it quits. And now, for the first time in 14 years, this is their first record of new material, newly recorded material.
And the last couple of times we looked at African music, Diana...
NYAD: Yes.
Mr. DUSKIS: ...specifically west African music, we've sort of been focusing on the more down tempo, the less upbeat styles of African music, so I thought it would be good to get back to what a lot of people think of as African music and one of its strengths, and that's the very upbeat danceable beat, you know, the fun horns, the great vocals, and this band absolutely is one of the great groups to do that kind of style.
(Clip of song)
NYAD: All right, Bob. Well, this has been a wonderful tour today. This is Bembeya Jazz from Guinea. What's the name of the CD?
Mr. DUSKIS: The CD is just called "Bembeya."
NYAD: All right. Really nice stuff. That's Bembeya. And first we heard Natacha Atlas. Absolutely stunning voice, really great stuff. And--and what was the name of that CD? "Something Dangerous," right?
Mr. DUSKIS: That is her new CD, "Something Dangerous."
NYAD: All right. Bob Duskis, thank you so much for the travels. And please post everything that you played for us today and info about it up on savvytraveler.org, will you?
Mr. DUSKIS: Absolutely. We'll have the stuff up on the Web site so people can go out and find this exciting music.
NYAD: OK.
Talk to you next time, all right?
Mr. DUSKIS: Great. 06/21/03 >> go there
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