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Hottentot Party come
from the north coast of NSW, one of the most musically fertile
areas of Australia outside metropolitan regions, Their poppy,
cross-cultural music and vibrant live performances have landed
them high on the bills of all the major Australian folk festivals
in recent years. A Small World is one of the most accomplished
Australian albums from a 'festival circuit' band that I've come
across.
Cleves parallels The
Hottentots' music with the Hottentot people of south-west Africa,
whose culture ceased to exist in its own right after invasions
of neighbouring tribes, icluding whites from the south, but whose
heritage lives on in the many other peoples who now live in the
area. He describes his 'folk music' as a cross-cultural mosaic
coming from Belgian radio stations in the 1960s when he was growing
up. He adds that this music does not come from any particular
culture but is the voice of all people of all ages and races.
This quality makes it particularly appropriate for such an ethnically
diverse country as Australia, and the music is unselfconsciously
multi-cultural. Using ska, South African, West African and Brazilian
styles, they create a sweet, very danceable sound with bass, drums
and keyboards with sax or trumpet behind Cleves' guitar, through
which Bouas' exuberant and sexy voice moves like a force of nature.
The confidence with which they use these styles comes from extensive
musical experience in their countries of origin.
The original songs
are a diverse bunch often reflecting 'alternative' values. The
ska-ish Intention is the Point of the Arrow takes off from Zen
and the Art of Archery and Sharpening a Knife is a sparse, elegant
setting of a contemporary Japanese poem by Nanao Sakaki. The earthier
side of life gets a look in the bouncy love song A Long Way. Down
that Track and Penkele are about imprisonment in and exile from
South Africa, and The Glorious Wind could fit any one of a dozen
liberation movements of the twentieth century. Other songs include
the festive samba Cravo e Canela by Brazilian composer Milton
Nascimento, and Hey Maria, a 1960s samba about the problems of
love in an extended family - they rework into a hot batucada.
With such a fine cast
of supporting musicians (of which drummer Rick Cole and bass player
Maurice Cernigoi are perhaps the most outstanding), the temptation
to use them on everything is overwhelming. For my money, they
could more often have leavened the strong dance beat - for example,
on African Sunset we only get a few bars of the melodic South
African acoustic guitar style before the band piles in. But if
you want a record to get you moving and keep you there you won't
be disappointed.
Arrangements and production
are razor-sharp, and it's gratifying to see that the album, first
released independently in 1994 (when it won a North Coast dolphin
Award for Best Album), has been picked up by One World Music and
should now be available through your local record shop. Definitely
a five-star production.
Simon
Kravis - Monaro Musings
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