Rhiannon Giddens: Shake Sugaree
The standout artist at the weekend’s Cambridge folk festival was the former Carolina Chocolate Drops singer, who has now launched what should be a highly successful solo career, following the release of her debut solo album Tomorrow Is My Turn. She is best experienced live, thanks to the sheer power with which she revives country and gospel songs, but here she is with a slinky and quieter folk tune that shows another side to her repertoire.
The Soil ft Khuli Chana: Susan
This year’s Womad may have been horribly wet for two of the three days but there was plenty of great music, including a debut appearance by South African trio the Soil. Updating their country’s strong tradition for a capella harmony singing, the trio include a human beatbox providing percussion and bass effects on a selection influenced by township styles and soul.
Buddy Guy ft BB King: Stay Around a Little Longer
Congratulations to Buddy Guy, who turned 79 on 30 July, and celebrated by releasing a new studio album, Born to Play Guitar. On one of the tracks, Flesh & Bone, he’s joined by Van Morrison in a poignant tribute to his friend, the late BB King. Here are the two great bluesmen playing together in 2010.
47Soul: Jahrusalem
Based in Jordan and London, 47Soul play what they call “electronic Palestinian street music … the futuristic sound of a Palestinian wedding party; true music for the masses”. I missed them at Womad because I was watching the great Totó La Momposina at the opposite end of the site, but I intend to put that right. Here they are performing in Amman, Jordan.
The Cambodian Space Project: Have Visa Have No Rice
Another unfortunate Womad clash meant that the impressively on-form Souad Massi was playing at the same time as the quirky and entertaining Cambodian Space Project, who gave a rousing late-night performance in the mud, reviving the hybrid pop music that flourished in Phnom Penh in the late 1960s and early 70s. Singer Srey Thy could make anyone forget the rain and cold.
Gurrumul: Jesu
The massively successful blind indigenous Australian singer has just released his first new studio album in nearly four years, a reimagining of the church songs that he heard in his youth. I found the album as a whole a little repetitive, but, taken individually, the songs are exquisite, and the opening Jesu shows off his emotional and soulful style.
Ben Miller Band: Black Betty
Ben Miller Band are a wild-looking bearded trio from Missouri who played a furious set at the Cambridge folk festival which included a full-tilt reworking of traditional songs. Here’s their version of the Lead Belly favourite Black Betty, a song that’s been revived by everyone from Tom Jones to Meat Loaf, but rarely sounds quite this frantic.
Ismaël Lô: Tajabone
Not to be confused with his excellent Senegalese compatriot Cheikh Lô, Ismaël Lô is another fine singer from west Africa who might be rather better known if he recorded more. A new Best Of album provides a reminder of his work and shows why he was once known as the Bob Dylan of Senegal, thanks to his use of acoustic guitar and harmonica. It includes this exquisite song which he first recorded in the early 90s, and was used by Pedro Almodóvar in his film All About My Mother.
Ibeyi: River
The French-Cuban twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz come from a great musical family: their dad was the late Miguel “Angá” Diaz, the celebrated percussionist with Buena Vista Social Club. Their own style is very different but equally compelling: a cool, quietly intense blend of Cuban influences, soul and electronica, dominated by the sisters’ exquisite harmonies. Their lyrics are in English and Yoruba; Ibeyi is the Yoruba word for twins.
Wilko Johnson: All Through the City
It’s wonderful to see him back, and he was in understandably exuberant form at last weekend’s Cambridge folk festival. Miraculously and thankfully recovered after a terminal cancer diagnosis, Wilko is still one of the most rousing, distinctive British guitarists. Here he is with one of my favourite Dr Feelgood songs, playing at Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenanny last New Year’s Eve.
