Tag Archives: soul

George Clinton gets to the bottom of funk with Berklee students

February 10, 2012 By in Articles Tags: ,

Boston Globe, February 10, 2012

He started in doo-wop, then went psychedelic. Throughout the 1970s, his bands Parliament and Funkadelic carved out bold, crazy new spaces in rock and funk, deploying a cast of loopy, absurdist characters fresh off the Mothership – the UFO that for many years throned above their concerts.

Samples of their music saturate hip-hop, and you don’t have to master the whole catalog to have danced a few times to classics like “Aqua Boogie,’’ “One Nation Under A Groove,’’ or the perennial “Flashlight.’’

What’s more, George Clinton is still at it, delivering at age 70 on a busy tour schedule with his P-Funk All-Stars, funking it up for audiences that invariably blend all generations and backgrounds.

So you would think that with this 50-plus-year track record of innovation and influence, someone would have thought to award Clinton an honorary doctorate by now.

Best of 2011: Siddhartha Mitter

December 23, 2011 By in Radio Tags: , , , ,

Soundcheck, WNYC Radio, December 22, 2011

This week’s year-in-review special continues with Siddhartha Mitter, a music journalist who contributes to the Boston Globe, MTV Iggy, MTV Desi and other outlets.

Siddhartha Mitter’s list:

Three Great Songs:

  • Frank Ocean, “Novacane”
  • Musiq Soulchild, “Yes”
  • SBTRKT featuring Sampha, “Hold On”

World Music that Isn’t “World Music”:

  • Chamber Music (album) – Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal
  • Tirtha (album) – Vijay Iyer, Prasanna, Nitin Mitta
  • Zuciya Daya (song) – Bez
  • Karibu Ya Bintou (song) – Baloji

Music for Upheaval:

  • Rayes Le Bled (song) – El Général
  • Into the Fire (song) – The Bant Singh Project
  • Obama Nation Pt 2 (song) – Lowkey ft. Lupe Fiasco, M-1, Black the Ripper

Rest in Peace:

  • Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
  • Cesaria Evora
  • Gil Scott-Heron

Si*Se’s small output yields big following

July 29, 2011 By in Articles Tags: , ,

Boston Globe, July 29, 2011

It feels like less is more for Si*Se.

Ten years ago, the New York band broke out with a self-titled disc of downtempo grooves with lyrics in English and Spanish, foregrounding lead singer Carol C. and the production work of cofounder Cliff Cristofaro. It offered an artsy, bilingual sound at a time before the combination of Latin rhythms and loops became a recognized international trend. The record appeared on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label and earned Si*Se the chance to tour worldwide with the former Talking Heads maven.

That was 2001. Since then, Si*Se has put out exactly one album – “More Shine,” in 2005, on the obscure Fuerte Records label – and one EP, last year’s “Gold,” which the band released independently. Yet despite the slender output, Si*Se enjoys something of a cult following. Its Facebook page and online reviews brim with declarations of love from fresh fans smacking themselves on the head for only just now discovering the band.

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Meklit Hadero, keeping it real and varied

July 10, 2011 By in Articles Tags: , , ,

Boston Globe, July 10, 2011

“On a Day Like This,” the 2010 debut album by San Francisco singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero, traces the arc of one day, its 10 songs sequenced to convey the moods and events of the passing hours from daybreak until time to sleep.

It is a day of shifting weather, from “You and the Rain” to “Soleil Soleil,” as befits the city by the bay; a bittersweet day, as misgivings over a love that can’t last (“Leaving Soon”) give way to the affirming Nina Simone cover “Feeling Good.”

It is a day as emotionally rich as the sounds that accompany it are eloquent in their assured diversity, from the New Orleans jazz feel of “Float and Fall” to Hadero’s cover of “Abbay Mado,” by Ethiopian master Mahmoud Ahmed.

It is, all in all, a very Meklit Hadero kind of day.

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Soulphonics’ Ruby Velle: “Singing soul is like therapy”

May 26, 2011 By in Articles Tags: , , ,

MTV Desi, May 26, 2011

A few days ago we introduced you to Soulphonics and Ruby Velle, the vintage soul act in Atlanta that’s fronted by a young Desi woman. We caught up with Ruby to talk music, culture, history—and how 1960s-era soul music captured her heart.

So what’s a nice Indian girl doing fronting an old-school soul band?

I’ve been a fan of soul music for years and it has become a great way for me to express myself as well as to keep the genre itself alive and kicking. My favorite thing is bringing the sound to new listeners who don’t know they like it until they hear it. That to me is priceless.

How Indian an upbringing did you have? Did you run the gauntlet of Indian music, dance lessons and all that?

I was born in Toronto. I’ve been to visit India several times, my family is spread out between North and South India, so I got to glean the best parts of each culture. I grew up with a perfect of blend of east and west. My parents were typical in their strictness, but they allowed me to follow my creativity and passions. I was able to take part in Indian festivals, I learned dances and hymns as much as I could while attending school and singing in chorus. The blend of culture was never a shock to me. It has caused me to be authentic and honest about straddling two cultures.

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Her second act is true to her soul

April 4, 2011 By in Articles Tags: , ,

Boston Globe, April 4, 2011

In the brand-new video for “Until U,” from soul singer Ashanti Munir’s album, “Soul of a Woman,” a couple in the fullness of adulthood are dressing and preparing for an event – their wedding, it seems – while black-and-white flashbacks picture a much younger couple walking in the rain, 25 years earlier. It describes a kind of love, Munir sings, that she had despaired of finding again … “until u.”

Shot in Munir’s home in Brockton and, recognizably, on Quincy Shore Drive and in the Boston Public Garden, the video and the song it supports encapsulate key facts about Munir: She’s making the kind of old-school, adult R&B that struggles these days to wedge itself onto commercial playlists. She’s doing it in Boston, a city not known for its soul-music market and venues. And she has taken her time.

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Straight from the Crescent City

March 12, 2010 By in Articles Tags: , ,

Boston Globe, March 12, 2010

No city in America owns a musical tradition as rich and distinctive as that of New Orleans. The paradox of this state of plenty – with famous destination events like Mardi Gras and Jazzfest and a year-round cornucopia of restaurants and club dates – is that great New Orleans musicians don’t hit the road all that often. They don’t need to.

So it’s a treat to see an all-star trio profoundly steeped in Crescent City tradition – Hammond B-3 organist Joe Krown, drummer Johnny Vidacovich, and singer-guitarist extraordinaire Walter “Wolfman” Washington – take a swing through the Northeast that brings them to Johnny D’s in Somerville tonight.

The three combine for a century at the heart of New Orleans sound – especially Washington, who was born there in 1943 and has been a working musician since his teens and a bandleader since the 1980s. They are supporting a recent release, “Live at the Maple Leaf,” recorded live at the New Orleans club of that name. (It features Russell Batiste on drums; Vidacovich, a bandleader with a cult following in the drummer world, is the regular fill-in.)

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Pride in her heritage is easy to hear

January 31, 2010 By in Articles Tags: , , ,

Boston Globe, January 31, 2010

The best African act category at Britain’s prestigious MOBO (Music of Black Origins) awards last year was a heavyweight affair. Among the nominees were such global pop icons as Femi Kuti, Oumou Sangare, Baaba Maal, and Amadou & Mariam.

And the winner was … Nneka.

The waters are parting for Nneka Egbuna, the 28-year-old Nigerian singer with a slight rasp in her voice and a singer-songwriter’s full gamut of quirkiness, earnest politics, and candid emotion.

In the past few years she has become a presence in Europe, living in Hamburg and releasing three albums on a local label. One yielded a hit single, “Heartbeat,” a soulful cri de coeur set to a hypnotic pulse, with a video shot on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria.

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To another place: Somi

November 15, 2009 By in Articles Tags: , , , ,

Boston Globe, November 15, 2009

Somi’s new album, “If the Rains Come First,” glistens with the sheen of an almost impossibly perfect cosmopolitanism, but that shouldn’t be held against her.

It could hardly be otherwise. Recorded in Paris and New York, with a group that includes a Senegalese guitarist, Herve Samb, a Japanese pianist, Toru Dodo, and a British-Nigerian bassist, Michael Olatuja, this subtle, rhythmically taut gem of an album documents global nomads sharing personal as well as musical experiences.

Centering the frame is Somi, daughter of Rwandese and Ugandan parents, raised in a Midwest college town, and now based in New York, who writes lyrics full of poetic intimacy in English laced with Swahili, Kinyarwanda, and Rutoro. Her quiet feel and indeterminate allure have prompted comparisons to Cassandra Wilson and Sade.

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Her time has come: Lalah Hathaway

November 7, 2008 By in Articles Tags: ,

Boston Globe, November 7, 2008

Patience. Perseverance. Acceptance. They’re among the cardinal values of soul music, black America’s soundtrack of struggle and faith and economic striving. And they suffuse not just the latest album, but the whole career of Lalah Hathaway, one of soul’s most elegant and gifted exponents today.

Now nearing 40, the perpetually under-the-radar Hathaway – who headlines the Dimock Center’s annual Steppin’ Out gala tomorrow – earlier this year released her fifth album, “Self Portrait,” a smooth and seamless serving of midtempo, keyboard-rich, adult-oriented rhythm & blues that is inspirational without being narcissistic or schmaltzy. It confirms Hathaway as one of those fine-wine artists, the kind who develop depth when allowed to mature unimpeded.

This didn’t come easy, and not just because Hathaway, who went to Berklee College of Music, chose the road less traveled in an industry that churns out overhyped and objectified female stars before shifting them to the slag heap.

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