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CD Review
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Sing Out!, CD Review >>
No, no, no! Not true. Her mait¹tête is Agwé, or she¹d be en bas de l'eauthis moment, with all the others.² Ghedefertilityconsidering whether or not to take this young woman into his arms once andfor all. The Haitian spirits are unforgiving and unapologetic in RussellBanks¹s Continental Drift, a novel based on the illegal immigration routesof Haitians into America, and the gods that help make (or not) the nauticalpassage. At nineteen, the pregnant Manze Dayila made this passage herself,barely scraping into Miami before being told by her ethereal guides tocontinue to New York. It was there she learned that she could sing, and thusher life was forever changed. A few years later, she was selected for theMTA¹s Music Under New York, a program that offers musicians performancetimes and locations in the subway system. It¹s a prime, though oftenunderappreciated role in the local arts. Dayila excelled there, evendressing as Ghedeof her ritual. Her voodoo is working (no pun intended), though, on herexcellent debut, Solé. While falling into some of the trappings of Afropop(overproduced guitars, tinny drums), for the most part the sixteen songs ofritual, of life and love, prove excellent. When she one drops into thereggae vibe on That Feeling, you could feel the stunned subway ridersslowly warming to the groove. The percussive edge of Papa Loko gives it asharp and crisp edge, and the fusing of congas and bass on Ibonodub showher penchant for experimentation. To rise to the top, one needs afoundation, and if Dayila had to go underground to lay it, she¹s done amagnificent job. Perhaps Ghede was the right choice, after all. DB 12/07/08
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