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CD Review
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Roots World, CD Review >>
Manze Dayila and the Nago Nation
Sole
As Is Entertainment (www.asisentertainment.com)
As good as purely authentic Haitian roots music
may be, singer Manze Dayila (who arrived in the
U.S. by boat as a pregnant teenage refugee 20
years ago) does it a fresh turn on her debut CD.
Vocally, Dayila is like a grittier Emeline
Michel, singing from someplace deep inside with a
focused longing that grabs from the outset. It's
the sort of voice that cries out for creative
arrangements, and this disc has them. A few
tracks trace a path back to Africa through the
use of kora and balafon, others jump boldly into
reggae, jazz, Latin, Brazilian and Middle Eastern
territory while keeping Dayila's Haitian
foundation intact. Not everything works- there's
a pair of songs sung in rap-infused English that
come up flat and sometimes the production has too
much techno intrusiveness. Still, there's enough
here, like the pulsing mystery of the opening
"Kwi," the gloriously acapella title track and
the shades of highlife that fuel "Ibo," to make
Sole well worth the occasional misstep. A most
impressive start, and it'll be interesting to see
where Dayila goes from here.
By: Tom Orr 12/15/08
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