New Music From Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet, Palm
Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet
Ladilikan
(World Circuit)
This writer has a healthy amount of skepticism for projects that meld non-western-world traditions with western-world aesthetics, so it’s refreshing—and relieving—to hear when well-intentioned musicians not only don’t embarrass themselves but also get it right. The collaborative album Ladilikan created by the Malian group Trio Da Kali and the prominent American string quartet Kronos Quartet never feels like an imposition, nor distractingly forced.
The Kronos Quartet seems to function musically like lightweight prosthetic wings, fitted onto the arms of Trio Da Kali and giving them an extended reach and lift without weighing them down or reducing any dexterity.
Trio Da Kali was assembled from members of celebrated musical families, including balafon (xylophone) virtuoso Fodé Lassana Diabaté, singer Hawa Diabaté (the daughter of acclaimed singer Kassé Mady Diabaté, and bass ngoni (lute) player Mamadou Kouyaté, the oldest son of Bassekou Kouyaté and member of Ngoni Ba.
The Kronos Quartet enhances this trio delicately—but not in a flimsy or insubstantial way—and the album never feels crowded; breathtakingly fast balafon runs are mirrored by the strings with a remarkable precision, like on “Lila Bambo.”
The song arrangements don’t trample upon the songs, some of which are drawn from the traditional Mande culture of southern Mali. However, there are a few idiosyncratic details present, like the wispy string notes on “Sunjata” or the wild glissandos and calculated squeaks and grinds on “Eh Ya Ye” perhaps evoking the failed attempts of a fraudulent marabout (West African cleric) to conjure a jinn, as part of the song’s storyline (the lesson: don’t let your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash).
Hawa Diabaté sings with a powerful, hearty conviction, and she reminded Kronos Quartet founder and violinist David Harrington of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. So, it’s no accident that a rendition of the gospel song “God Shall Wipe All Tears Away”—previously sung by Jackson and here translated to the Bamana language—is here, with the quartet contributing sustained string notes that resonate like church organ chords.
The album’s title track adapts Jackson’s “I’m Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song” and is an indictment of hypocrisy, extended to cover violent religious extremism, matched with passionate playing and unflinching lyrics, like the translated line “You can’t pray on Friday, then go out on Saturday and chop off limbs and murder little children.”
Ladilikan isn’t watered down “world music” for western audiences, but instead, it magnifies and enhances where cultures—and faiths—overlap.
Palm
Shadow Expert
(Carpark)
Here’s an interesting question this writer encountered on an online forum: if faced with a permanent choice today, would you rather only be able to listen to music from the past or music that has yet to come out?
This writer wouldn’t hesitate to go with only listening to music from the past, although bands such as the Philadelphia quartet Palm make him think that the future of music can still hold surprises, even with the common rock combo lineup of two guitars and a bass/drums rhythm section.
The 6-song EP Shadow Expert is invigorating in spirit and execution, tossing off herky jerky tempo changes effortlessly along with tight math-rock patterns that sometimes bring to mind This Heat. Dissonance is used as seasoning, and the seemingly flawless musicianship recalls the rigorous and unconventional rhythmic tug of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.
It’s a release that seems like it wants to be simultaneously difficult and challenging while agreeable, easygoing and playful, particularly with the pop-oriented vocals, such as the vocal harmonies on “Two Toes” that wouldn’t sound out-of-place on some radio station broadcast in the ‘70s.
The band’s precision imbued with a recreational attitude provides a sort of sporty mood; for example, on “Sign to Signal,” the off-kilter guitars act as if they are dueling and taking turns firing at each other with colorful paintball pellets, perhaps magnified by the stereo channel separation. The track also throws the listener off balance by slyly and subtly shaving just a fraction of a second off its rhythmic pattern.
Despite the band’s prickly approach, the title track is actually bright and hopeful, using octave-separate notes and distinctively chiseled guitar timbres, evoking a shiny sharpness. Shadow Expert is a snappy and arresting EP brimming with vim and vigor that has more ideas and bristling energy than most albums do, nowadays.
