Zaboum!!
|
|
|
France, which is seriously selective about only elevating the best of its jazz singers, has been in a stew ever since young Beninoise-French singer Mina Agossi emerged from nightclubs to limelight. If her first albums were essentially trials of style, then Zaboum!! – Agossi’s lightly titled fourth release – sees everything in perfect placement.
Zaboum!! is poised on a cusp between trad greats and modern innovation. The smoky-voiced Agossi takes on songs by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, even Jimi Hendrix, to give a flavour of her interpretative ability. But once on her own compositions, Agossi has a Björkish inventiveness. Birds sing on the title track; ‘Gypsy Boy’, so full of longing and menace, is opened right up by some aching violin; ‘Identity’ is spurred on by some dark electronic percussion.
Her four-strong band features bassist Alexandre Hiele with Bertrand Perrin and DD Williams’ staggering range of percussion, but it’s Agossi who is the revelation. Her intonations match the words: she really can ‘scratch the air’ to quote ‘2000 Bells’. And Ellington’s ‘Caravan’ gets a complete makeover, with Agossi taking the song off to Morocco and setting it free in the kasbah. As her voice moves into wild and slinky ad libs, a whole new journey is revealed.
- Product information
- by Mina Agossi
- Publisher
- Candid
- Product number
- CCD 79800 CD
- Star rating
- Product link
- www.mina-agossi.com
Join over 30,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, action alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
