Artist:
Novalima
Title:
Planetario
Label:
Wonderwheel
Recordings
Released:
16th of June
In
Mark Hudson's book 'The Music In My Head' the main character Andrew
'Litch' Litchfield an arrogant world music producer, promoter and
publicist states something along the lines of 'A lot of people say
they know African music, they probably have 10 or 12 albums in their
collections, whereas I really know African music.' I definitely lean
towards the former not only in African Music but Latin as well. I've
been aware of the big guns Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri and the Bueno
Vista Social Club for many years. The internet allowed me to explore
many other artists old and new and the newer genres generated in the
Latin and South American region. However, the bulk of these artists
are from Brazil or Cuba and I'm not the greatest at identifying and
pigeon holing some of those. So when it comes to Novalima who fuse
traditional Afro-Peruvian music (a blend of Peruvian, African and
European music itself) with electronica, dub-reggae, hip-hop and
other vibes that grab their ears, I recognise sounds from Batucadas,
Samba & Salsa which may already be an established part of the
Afro-Peruvian music already for all I know. Bearing that in mind I'm
going to have a bash at reviewing their latest offering.
The
release has been compiled over the last two years, mostly on tour and
features plenty of collaborations both locally and internationally.
For example in Columbia a recording session was initiated by members
of La-33
and included Eka Muñoz
(Sidestepper)
Pernett & La Mamba Negra adding
additional Latin flavours to the mix. The
first single to be released from the album is the opening track 'Como
Yo' a tribute to Peruvian
percussionist and long time band member Mangue Vasquez who passed
away in 2014.
The
track will be released both as a 7” vinyl and digitally on May the
17th.
The tracks certainly blend an alluring and danceable mixture of female and male vocals, African drum rhythms, guitars, pan-pipes, horns and electronica. At times reminiscent in drum style of the Batucadas in 'Beto Kele' for instance or Manu Chao vocally in 'Mi Canto' and 'Copa de Manana' while 'Hoy Dia' fuses Soulful vocals, jazzy piano keys and Latin percussion. However, as much as I enjoyed the vocals and intense drum work throughout the album I struggled to ascertain a clear favourite. Although, the sultry female vocals interwoven with deep breathy almost beatbox-like male counterpart and the general housey bounciness of 'Madretierra' possibly edged it.
I
remember the James Taylor Quartet stating they packed out venues with
their live shows yet struggled to sell recordings (which surprised me
as I enjoyed both) I wouldn't go as far to say this is the case with
Novalima (considering they've released music with ESL and Wonderwheel
as well as receiving great press in the past from the likes of the
Wall Street Journal, Metro & the Guardian). However, I'd imagine
they're music is best experienced live and they've graced the stages
of the Montreal Jazz Festival, WOMAD & NYC Central Park to name a
few.
Reviewed
by Woodzee.
Links
Preview
and vinyl alerts available @
