the Adventure Lifestyle magazine

• • • • bluenote NACAo ZUMBI RADIO S.AMB.A (Stern 's) In the early 1990s, the city of Recife on the northeastern coastline of Brazil was the birthplace of Manguebeat, a fiery concoction of the earthshaking tra- ditional sordu drums with their echoes of African polyrhythms, the frenetic gu i- tars of metal, and rapid-fire rap lyrics. At the crest of this sonic shock wave was Chico Science and his group Nac;;ao Zumbi. With blistering live perform- ances and international record distribution, they were poised to shake up the ears of a world that still thought of Brazil as the land of li lting bossa nova about some chick from Ipanema. Then in February 1997, the charismatic trontman , songwriter, and driving force Chico Science was killed in an auto accident out- side Recife, and the promise of Manguebeat seemed to be extinguished. In their first album since Chico's death, Nac;;ao Zumbi's seven sur- viving members have produced Radio S.amb.A, a strong comeback from the tragic loss. With the rap vocal duties spread among the band, the sound of the group has evolved towards a f ierce Brazilian version of jungle with the deep- voiced sordus reinforcing the funk bass lines with mUd-thick break beats. The distorted metal element has faded in favor of the more psychedelic flavor of wah-wah, but guitarist Jackson Bandeira wields his axe with astounding rhyth- mic inventiveness adding to the propulsive percussion of the songs. Brazilian friends tell me that the lyrics aren't as clever as Chico's and since I don't speak Portuguese, I'll take their word for it. But for wildly creative music that you can't stop moving to, long live Nac;;ao Zumbi! ETHIOPIQUES. VOLUME 8 SWINGING ADDIS (Buda Musique) At a dinner party, I sl ipped on this CD and asked my friends to guess the land of origin. They recognized the sound of laid-back Jamaican skank guitar but when the vocals began, confusion clouded their faces. "What language is this?" they asked . The answer is Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia. In the waning regime of Emperor Haile Selassie in the 1960s and 1970s, the denizens of Addis Ababa created a flourishing music scene that melded mil- itary brass bands, American soul and rhythm and blues, and spiky, asym- metrical traditional melodies. The label Buda Musique and compiler Francis Falceto have been mining this trove of grooving music in a series of CDs called Ethiopiques. The eighth installment, Swinging Addis, is full of great tracks with incredibly emotional smoky vocals and blazing horn sections. The influence of James Brown is evident in Ayalew Mesfin's grunts and shouts on the funky "Hasabe" and the proto-reggae guitar of Girma Beyene's "Ene nefn bay manesh" makes this music instantly accessible to all ears and feet. EMMYLOU HARRIS REO DIRT GIRL (Nonesuch Records) Since Emmylou Harris' discovery by country-rock visionary Gram Parsons in the early 1970s, her crysta lline singing has garnered nine Grammys and her gorgeous harmonies have graced albums by Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Steve Earle among other luminaries. In a career reaching over 30 years and almost 30 albums, Harris has explored styles from pop to folk to country, but in 1995 she broke new ground to create the moody alternative rock masterpiece Wrecking Ball. On Red Dirt Girl, Harris has created an album of shimmering, reverberating electric guitar and heartrending voca ls. Harris is a strong writer as well, penning 11 songs of heartbreak, lost dreams, and hopes of redemption that are made that much sweeter by guest vocals from Bruce Springsteen to Dave Matthews. NORTH 1tII6BISSlITI *_" ALLSTAns .,.,. * NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS "SHAKE HANDS WITH SHORTY" (Tone-Cool Records) The steamy juke joints and plantations of the Mississippi Delta were the birthplace and haunts of bluesmen like Son House and Robert Johnson who helped lay the foundation for rock and roll. Now, an updated, down-home blues groove is coming out of the Delta in the form of the North Mississippi Allstars, a take-no-pris- oners jam band that fuel-injects tunes by veteran Delta bluesmen like RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Mississippi Fred McDowell (whose song "You Gotta Move" was a hit for the Rolling Stones). The power trio is comprised of brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson on guitar and drums and Chris Chew on bass. Cody's drumming sets a blistering pace and Luther's slide guitar snakes around old blues licks, creating a hypnotic blues trance on tracks like "All Night Long" and "Po Black Maddie." 56 TEXT: CHARLES PUCKETTE

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