The kokoroko are the Earth, Wind & Fire of their (our) time?

The kokoroko are the Earth, Wind & Fire of their (our) time? For someone it will be a provocation, but that someone would do well to put aside the prejudices and listen to the music of the Kokoroko. The new album of the band launched in 2018 by Brownswood, the label of Gilles Peterson, and ended up on the mouth of critics from all over the world thanks to the video of “Abusey Junction”, a splendid mix between jazz, afrobeat, soul and Caribbean rhythms, recorded in the headquarters of the iconic DJ and radio speaker considered one of the most influential personalities of the media village, is released in 2018. of overseas. The album is titled “Tuff Times Never Last”, comes three years after the previous “Could We Be More” and once again confirms the value of the London collective of champion and virtuous founded by the trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Gay and by the percussionist Onome Edgeworth: the eleven traces that compose him draw with his hands with the British R & Bs of the 80s, Neo-Soul, Disco Music, Bossa Nova, Rock and Funk, putting together the lesson of groups such as Sly & Robbie, Loose Ends and Earth themselves, Wind & Fire, between space keyboards, ultra funky and low electric guitars and battery to make the grooves irresistible.

Moreover, their passion for the legendary band led by Maurice White, 6 Grammy Awards won, the Kokoroko have explicitly explicit it, with incursions in the repertoire of the “fantasy” group who left the spectators of their concerts open: “We are jazz musicians by nature, but we tried not to limit ourselves to a single sound. We want to be as creative as possible, without feeling limited », explains the co-leader Sheila Maurice-Gay. The disc was anticipated by the single “Sweetie”, a track dominated by the winds and rhythms that wink at Africa, before welcoming more electronic and acid atmospheres. A way to the collective born as an answer “to the lack of representation of traditional African music that passes through the lens of the Africans who grew up in the United Kingdom” to enrich one’s own sound, but without distorting ourselves: “We wondered:” How would our traditional music play if it came from London, where is there a huge point of fusion of cultures? And how would it sound if it came from our perspective? “

The songs bring the signing of all the members of the collective, of which in addition to Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet, voice) and onome Edgeworth (percussion) there are Anoshka Nanguy (trombone, voice), Chelsea Carmichael (sax), Tobi Adenaike-Johnson (guitar), Yohan Kebede (keyboards and synthesizers), Duane Atrley (bass) and Ayo Salawu (drums). “Tuff Times Never Last” is for “hard times will never end”, but there is no negativity in the songs. Quite the opposite: between reminiscences, as well as Earth, Wind & Fire, also of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, the music of the Kokoroko is an explosion of joy and positivity. The themes range from the celebration of the Union to perseverance: “Much of that beauty comes from the challenges and difficulties. It seemed like a natural truth that we discovered during writing, “they say.

It is in the live that the kokoroko give their best. The summer tour that is keeping the collective on the stage of the European festivals engaged does not include passages in Italy, but in the Bel Paese they will arrive with the autumn tour: the date of 24 October at the Alcatraz in Milan will be a unique appointment, in all respects.