|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
GB 109CD
|
Sun-baked instrumental meditations played on local string and percussion instruments. Yearning vocals and songs that evoke the mystifying realities of everyday life. Recorded live and outdoors on Grande Comore island by acclaimed producer, Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, Zomba Prison Project). The Comoro islands are known locally as the "islands of the moon." We Are An Island, But We're Not Alone is the first album of original songs ever to be released from the region. Volume #8 of Glitterbeat's Hidden Musics series.
Producer Ian Brennan tells the story of how the album came together: "It took us six flights to get to the tiny African island, well sequestered in the Indian Ocean and uninhabited by man until centuries after Christ. It is a nation with no army, only police. A place where women don thick mud-masks for sunblock . . . Shortly after arriving, we inquired about the ndzumara (a double-reed pipe, or primitive oboe), and were sadly informed, 'He died.' The last living player had just passed, the sound of the instrument ostensibly lost forever with him. We were left to only imagine its resonance . . . When searching for music, often the stronger artist is hidden behind another, more famous, but lesser one . . .In this case, a slick and successful man named Hassain led us to another non-musician named Hassain who connected us with a musician who was quite good and he ultimately introduced us to his friend and mentor, and that person, Soubi (and his partner, Mmadi) turned out, at last, to be the real deal."
|