The Chicago World Music Festival was a rather stunning success in its inaugural year: attendance surpassed the organizers’ expectations, and the logistical difficulties of bringing performers from around the globe in to play a ten-day event with 12 different venues were largely invisible to the public. Most important, the quality and diversity of the music immediately established the fest as one of the premiere musical events in the country.
One more thing: for those interested in talking as well as listening, there’s a free panel discussion about the tension between traditionalism and fusion in world music. It takes place on Friday, September 29, at noon in the Cultural Center’s Claudia Cassidy Theater. The panelists are Amon Tobin, saxophonist Trevor Watts, Frederic Tari of Comifo, Latin-jazz pianist Danilo Perez, festival organizer Michael Orlove, moderator Ben Harbert from the Old Town School of Folk Music, and yours truly.
See below.
Steve Coleman
Steve Coleman & the Mystic Rhythm Society
Over the course of two decades Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, Zimbabwe’s most popular artist, has devised a style-spanning sound that blends sweet melodies and insinuating rhythms. Like many Zimbabwean musicians, he’s been influenced by the great Thomas Mapfumo, who adapted the traditional mbira (thumb piano) music of the country’s Shona people for electric guitar, but he’s also adapted elements of South African township jive, Congelese rumba, and deep American soul-you can hear Otis Redding in the rough edges of his baritone. The slick production on his two U.S. releases, Tuku Music and the new Paivepo (both on Putumayo), makes clear that Mutukudzi is very interested in expanding his audience. The bubbling guitar, snaking basslines, and skittering hi-hat are cushioned by soulful female backing vocals and catchy synthesizer parts-and while Mtukudzi sings most of the tunes in Shona, he even sings a song or two in English.
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On their recent debut album, Uncut Roots (IACA), these locals toss Latin rhythms, reggae sunniness, slick funk, and Indian classical music into the pot-but there’s not enough real meat there to support all the exotic spices.
