New releases from South Africa, the Netherlands, Turkey and Tunisia
Mehmet Polat by now has released his fifth CD entitled The Promise. On this CD he is supported by nine musicians, among them Sinan Arat on the ney and the jazz player Joan Terol Amigo on percussion. These experienced musicians give Mehmet free rein to make his classical sounding melodies sound jazzy and modern by improvising.
1. Footprints, Mehmet Polat (05:11)
2. My Cultural Womb, Memhmet Polat (05:32)
3. Permission, Mehmet Polat (04:27)
CD: Mehmet Polat, The Promise (2020) AFFAB Records MP39, Xango Music Distribution
Bongeziwe Mabandla, singer songwriter from South Africa, has made a beautiful album: Iimini. In 2012, he became the new face of Afro Folk after the release of his CD Umlilo. The music he makes is modest traditional folk, based on texts in his Xhosa language. On his latest CD, however, we can hear a number of influences such as sweet soul, smooth jazz, and urban beats.
1. Masiziyekelele, Bongeziwe Mabandla (05:59)
2. Khangela, Bongeziwe Mabandla (04:03)
Cd: Bongeziwe Mabandla, Iimini (2020) Black Major, Platoon
Bayan player Oleg Fateev is from Moldova. After his education at the Gnesin Academy of Music in Moscow, he came to the Netherlands at the age of 29 and started as a street musician. He plays the bayan, a Russian button accordion. He turned out to be a composer and arranger, and on the album Dreams, you can also hear him as a singer.
1. Three Years I dreamt of you, Oleg Fateev, Nikita Bogoslovski, A. Fatianov, arr. Oleg Fateev (04:24)
2. Tuesday Morning, Oleg Fateev (10:58)
CD. Oleg Fateev, Dreams (2009) Own release.
The name of the new and fifth album of Tamikrest is Tamotaït, which means hope in Tamasheq, the language spoken by the Touareg – or Kel Tamasheq. The Kel Tamasheq, who live scattered over Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Libya and Niger, have been hoping for their own state for decades now.
1. Azawad, Tamikrest (04:01)
2. As Sastnan, Tamikrest (05:16)
Cd. Tamikrest, Tamotaït (2020) Glitterbeat, Indigo CD 189632, Xango Music Distributiion
Ammar 808 is a Brussels’-Tunisian trio lead by Sofyann Ben Youssef.
Producer Sofyann Ben Youssef travelled to the Tamil Nadu region in South India for this album, and he came back with a lot of material: from trance-temple music to street theatre and Carnatic music. This resulted in the album Global Control / Invisible Invasion. The music is mixed with electronic sounds and a heavy beat, and sounds futuristic.
1. Geeta Duniki, Ammar 808 (03:33)
2. Marivere Gati, Ammar 808 (04:17)
CD. Ammar 808, Global Control / Invisible Invasion (2020) Glitterbeat, GBCD 100, Xango Music Distribution
