Chocolate Lands

We’ve had some delicious coffee so a bit of sweet chocolate wouldn’t go astray. Sweet yes, but with some nice touches of dark. This latest compilation presents a nice balance between well-known world artists and not so well-known on 12 songs performed and sung in an acoustic vein.

It’s a given that all these numbers are distinctive and finely crafted with diverse pulsing rhythms and melodies that reflect their origins. Several are from European based artists and represent friendly fusions of different cultures. In fact the first number Lisanga by Toto Bona Lokua (Gerald Toto, Richard Bona and Lokua Kanza), a haunting fusion of French Caribbean and Western and Central African influences, is warmly accessible but also highly original with Lokua’s beautiful voice immediately identifiable.

London based Susheela Raman’s Sarasa is another fusion, this time of classical Indian with African and pop, a piece which is accessible and low-key but also brimming with genuine emotion and talent. Susheela was raised in Australia but in typical fashion had to leave for England in the 90’s to have her music recognised. Some of the staple artists of previous Putumayo collections are here but there is no duplication as far as I know. Beethova Oba’s rich blend of compas, bossa and Cuban is well up to his high standards, Latin rappers cum the kitchen sink Ozomatli are captured in fine acoustic form, Susana Baca’s Valentin is a soulful Afro-Peruvian classic from an artist who can do no wrong in my book and the collection closes with a son from the great and appropriately named Cuban trumpeter Chocolate Armenteros.

One of my favourite tracks is Baba by Belizeans Adrian Martinez and Andy Palacio. Now Andy’s Garifuna punta-rock is often as hard as nails but it is a tribute to his and Adrian’s artistry that Baba pulses gently in consonance with the Chocolate ethos. Other talented performers featured are Brazilian Marcantonio whose Sabia is a sort of jazzy slowed down forro, Belgian group Think Of One in Brazilian mode, Dobet Gnahore, a velvet toned songstress from Ivory Coast, Teresa Bright from Hawaii and last but certainly not least Taffetas, an excellent group consisting of musicians from Switzerland and Guinea-Bissau who fuse kora and Indian music in a chocolate blend. There would be few better ways of forgetting the lift home from work with Keith Doof, eager to show off his new car stereo than putting your feet up to this. But then if you do want to dance non-aerobically, you can do that too.