The Phoenix Network:
About | Advertise
 
Music
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Download  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features  |  New England Music News

Aphrodesia

Lagos by Bus | Cyberset
By BANNING EYRE  |  January 23, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
APHRODESIA_inside
The 11 California-based musicians of Aphrodesia are part of a new wave of US-based Afropop bands who don’t simply draw inspiration from recordings but are driven to travel and learn from their sources. The group’s principals are two women with experiences in Ghana and Cuba and familiarity with Shona music from Zimbabwe. Aphrodesia’s new CD commemorates the band’s collective — and intrepid — overland trip from Ghana into Nigeria, where they opened for Femi Kuti at the legendary Lagos nightclub the Shrine, home of Africa’s most widely imitated modern genre. Afrobeat, with its funky grooves, trenchant brass arrangements, and feisty call-and-response vocals, is the glue that binds these nine original tracks. But along the way, we get traditional mbira (hand piano) and guitar-driven boogie from Zimbabwe, an Afro-Cuban homage to the healing saint Babalu-aye, and, on “Everyday,” the two lead women singing in Ghana’s Ga language over a funky brass-and-electric guitar backbeat. The band are tight and fluid, and their command of far-flung languages and musical genres is sure-footed without being reverential.
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

Today's Event Picks
ARTICLES BY BANNING EYRE
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: BANNING EYRE

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 
HOT TOPICS
 More Topics . . .
LATEST SLIDESHOWS

All Slideshows



Featured Articles in Features:
Boyle_Danny_thumb

Interview: Danny Boyle

Slumdog slumming?
081121_boorman_slot

Tiger by the tail

The wild and woolly cinema of John Boorman
081107_ghana_list

Empowerment on Two Wheels

JP cyclists reach out to Africa
081107_bjff_list

Ends of the earth

The 20th Boston Jewish Film Festival reaches deep and far
Saturday, November 22, 2008  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group