Modern Technology

When you jump down the musical rabbit hole, you never really know where you're going to
end up.  In this case I landed smack in the middle of Afrobeat Street, which is more like the alley somewhere between latin music and hip-hop, with a peculiar nod to 70's funk.  But I swear either myself or one of my ancestors were born in this minor thoroughfare even though it wasn't nameduntil the early 2000's.  

I found the Daktaris shortly after Setenta.  It's not really latin like the gang from Setenta, but it sure is funky! Plenty of groove drumming, and hints of layered percussion underlying the whole thing (claves, shakers, blocks, handdrums, etc).  Over half the songs are instrumental, with a lot of play back and forth between saxophone, flute, and trombone.  When the singer is doing his thing, it's a decidedly thick African accent he's speaking to you
with.  Freaked my system out to hear him talk about "technology" in all long "o" sounds.  Also, these songs are political and philosophical; there was a lot of thinking and life positioning going into the lyrics, for sure.  

While this isn't my chosen music to play the congas to, the rhythmic fantasticness is undeniable.  This rates way up there on the cruiseability scale, and if they were in town in need of a drummer or backup clave player or whatever, I'd be there in a second.  Shoot, even if they just needed a dancer to be doing some gyrations while they play, I'd do it!  

Setneta- Funky Tumbao

In May 2011, Kisha and I were getting ready to leave for the Dominican Republic.  I didn't really know what people were listening to in the DR, so I decided to just go for anything remotely Latin.  What I found was exactly that; Latin enough to play songs somewhere between clave time and 4/4, but not really your typical salsa band.  Some of the lyrics are in Spanish, but since the band is based in Paris, there were also some songs in French and English.  What struck me about this album was how much fun it was to listen to.  I initially wanted to play the drum kit to these songs, but never really tried it out due to a lack of place to play.  The groove is undeniable, and I would just cruise around with this disc in the car with a huge smile on my face, bopping to the music to the delight of some of the other drivers that I encountered.  Cruiseability is a total requirement for good music, methinks.



I remember coming across a pair of green congas in the music room at SCS, the school that graciously employed me, and wishing I could play like Setenta.  I think that's when I first though about realistically playing hand percussion.  I dabbled with a pair of congas back at ONU when I was playing alongside Kevin Jones, but it had been a real long time since I did more than super-basic djembe stuff.  All of a sudden I wanted to play that funky tumbao!  This was step 1 in breaking loose, moving ahead, and learning new music.



If you like collecting good music, these guys are great!  Their second albom, Latin Piece of Soul is also good, but I have some reservations about some of the songs on the newer album.  I can honestly say I love everything on this first latin/soul/jazz album, though!  Check it out!

Musical Growth

I think there are times in everyone's life there are times when we feel stuck, like we can't move forward and grow.  It takes something outside of ourselves to break things loose, to change our perspective and position so we can learn new things.  Such has the case been for me recently.  I felt like I was completely stuck in music, playing the same things I used to play in high school 15 years ago on the guitar, not having very many people to get together with and jam, and knowing the whole time that I would never improve until something pushed me.

These past few years have been quite a change for me.  I encountered some music that is a lot different than anything I listened to before, and I've started playing different instruments.  Though my wife and I joke that I'm sometimes "Conga Crazy", it has been exactly what I needed to improve, progress, and break the cycle and boredom of doing the same thing over and over.   As is usually the case, my journey began by listening, hearing something that I think is awesome, and finding inspiration in the audio.  Over the next few days I hope to explore the sounds that I've found, and post some links on my timeline.