Somanti

スイスの名門ボンゴ・ジョーから真打登場。アフリカ系ディアスポラ宗教ハイチ・ヴードゥー教の音楽がエレクトロニクスと融合!!
ダンスとは祈りであり、祭りとは日常だ!

Haitian roots ensemble Chouk Bwa and Brussels-based experimental musicians Frederic Alstadt and Nicolas Esterle first met in 2016, and released the excellent collaboration Vodou Ale in 2020, merging distortion and dub effects with electrified rhythms and group chants. The musicians reunited after COVID-19 lockdown and performed concerts throughout Europe in 2022. Somanti is a studio recording of the material played during these live sets, and while the approach hasnt noticeably changed much since the first album, the result is still dynamic and powerful, and its just as easy to recommend. The title track storms out of the gate with heavy bass, pounding drums, and passionate vocals, escalating into a faster rhythm during the second half. The following tracks generally stick to furious drumming enhanced by electronic beats and wigged-out delay effects, while Jean Claude "Sambaton" Dorvil leads the other members of Chouk Bwa in rousing call-and-response chants. "Vini We M" adds an extra boom to the driving bass, and others like "Kimelem" and "Sala" carry an atmosphere of industrial dread. The shorter "Kote Nap Mete Lwa Yo" is the albums biggest diversion, mainly consisting of half-spoken, a cappella female vocals and a minimal amount of electronic drifting. Finale "Viyaya Keke" starts out with more restrained drumming, then builds repetitive vocals into an accelerating tempo, and ends in a fit of sinister laughter. Somanti is every bit as fiery and spirited as Vodou Ale, and already Chouk Bwa & the Angstromers seem to have established an exhilarating new genre of their own. ~ Paul Simpson