Album of the day: Mandingo, “New World Power”

Mandingo
New World Power (Cd Axiom/Island 422-846853-2)

Among the thousand beautiful instruments that constitute the musical heritage of Africa, the kora, a 21-string plucked harp, is certainly among the most complete and fascinating, capable of articulating with clarity the complex polyrhythms that are often used in the accompaniments of many African songs; the most famous kora soloist in the West is Foday Musa Suso, born in Gambia and belonging to the Mandingo ethnic group. His fame comes from the multiple collaborations that Suso has
many years with musicians from very different sound universes from his own, including the Kronos Quartet, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Philip Glass, Don Cherry, Ginger Baker, Pharoah Sanders.

Suso left Africa in the 70s and settled in Chicago, which allowed him to get in tune with different cultures to which he was able to bring his creative contribution with imagination and availability.

The album I recommend today is certainly the most bizarre of his entire discography given that it is a curious mix of African popular music and underground techno-dance of a purely New York style.
Who could have come up with such an apparently unfeasible idea? But of course the “parsley” Bill Laswell, a tireless experimenter who does one thing and thinks of a hundred. The bulk of the work is done by Foday’s kora and the synthesizers.
expertly programmed by Jeff Bova, while various types of electronic drums heavily mark out earth-shaking rhythms that are further underlined by Laswell’s pressing bass.

With the exception of the more atmospheric parenthesis of “Balafa”, the rest of the album is a journey through the veins of rhythm, without a moment’s respite (after all, “Powerhouse” has a title that says it all in itself, while “Ada Andi” and “Lambasy” continue along the same lines). The synthetic sounds hammer rhythms derived from African tradition, resulting even more alienating, while Suso’s voice, which we remembered as bright and natural in other albums, always appears filtered and modified to best represent the urban jungle in which Laswell seems to be at ease.

The overall sound of the album goes straight to the guts, and driven by an inexhaustible rhythmic trance we find ourselves out of
this very hot month of July.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical subjects.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: Un disco per ogni giorno dell’anno” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.