The Whole Music Experience

Samite Mulondo, Charles Evans, Jr., & Tony Cedras Trust Independent  I admit that I have sat on the recording Trust by Samite, Charles Evans, Jr. and Tony Cedras for over a month because I didn’t know how to frame the music on the CD.   First, and most important, Trust acts as a fundraising album for Samite’s nonprofit Musicians for World Harmony which brings music and music therapy to at-risk groups in Africa, mainly East Africa.   Second, the CD comes with a warning that the music that appears on the recording is from the movie Addiction Incorporated in which Samite composed the soundtrack.   And with all that gravity, you probably expect sad ballads with social messages, none of which you will find on this CD. The musicians mention in the press notes that they wanted to create a danceable African recording without drums.   And darn if you don’t want to get up and dance listening to these polyrhythmic songs that feature acoustic ...

  Addis Acoustic Project Tewesta (Remembrance) World Village Besides my familiarity with an acoustic homage to Ethiopia performed by Gigi and a Rough Guide to the Music of Ethiopia , I find myself at a loss in describing Ethiopian music.  The music shares some commonalities with Egyptian music, but possesses an exoticism of its own.  I only wish that I had more time to spend on writing a review of Addis Acoustic Project’s Tewesta because the disc provides lively Ethiopian fare flavored with accordion, acoustic guitar, double bass, percussion, and clarinet for starters.  The music here swirls in this space and often swivels its way through exotic scales. It also provides a nostalgic feel to a bygone era. The second track, Ambassel (Ethiopian folk song), fuses Latin American music with East African jazz and Dawit Ferew’s clarinet alternates between Turkish traditional and klezmer-esque modes, though I’m certain that it is neither.  The ensemble ...