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Realworld Records artist and
occasional WOMAD festival performer Afro Celt Soundsystem pretty
much embodies what I love about the progression of World
Music. Yeah, I like traditional, culturally significant
instruments played in a traditional, culturally significant
style, but for me personally, the World Music that gets my
juices flowing is a melding of Western and non-Western styles
into an amalgum that stretches the barriers of 'new', creating
something that has never been done before -- a tough feat in
music today.
Afro Celt Soundsystem is pretty
much what the package says it is: Towering African/Mid
East rhythms combined with the simple, yet enduring sounds of
Irish/Celtic instrumentation. Mixing tabla and djembe
drums with bagpipe, tin flute and fiddle produces a sound that
is at once pleasant and distinctly original.
For the most part I get an Enigma
vibe on Volume 3. I think it's the intentional Techno
groove most of the songs fall into that makes me grab this
comparison... It's a smoothness and perfection of melody
along with a beat that can damn near hyp-mo-tize you.
There's not a whole lot of memorable lyrics or vocalizations
here, but there's fine music and plenty of it.
Two distinct exceptions to the
vocalization comment above are the songs featuring Peter Gabriel
("When You're Falling") and a mysteriously Dolores
O'Riordan-like female vocalist ("Go on
Through"). Robert Plant is in there too, but bucking
the trend as I often do, I think his performance is far less
than memorable. Gabriel's contribution is pure gold and,
consequently, got the group a boatload of publicity early on,
landing them on all the late night American shows and on every
Top-40 rock station in the country. "Go On
Through" however is much closer to the band's sound -- but
the vocals are riveting. Unfortunately, I think the media
frenzy surrounding "When You're Falling" did more for
Peter Gabriel than for ACSS. I LOVE Peter Gabriel, don't
get me wrong, but his collaboration was meant to help the band,
not the other way around. Lob the blame on that one
squarely on the American Press who wouldn't know how to promote
World Music if you beat them over the head with it.
In general, this is a very good
album. From a World Music perspective it is a STELLAR
album. Call it East meets West, Africa meets the British
Isles, I don't care... this is what I consider a perfect example
of what happens when two musical worlds collide. Highly
recommended!
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| Artist |
Afro Celt Sound
System |
| Title |
Volume 3:
Further in Time |
| Label |
Realworld
Records |
| Reviewer |
Robert Lewis |
| Rating |
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