One of the more intriguing bands to emerge in North Carolina in the past couple years is the Asheville-based quintet Toubab Krewe.
The TbK lineup includes Justin Perkins, Drew Heller, Luke Quaranta, David Pransky and Teal Brown.
Their sound is an extraordinary amalgam of rock and West African influences, the end result creating a vibe that’s really quite distinctive. TbK’s unique music explains, in part, their rather abrupt success. The band has been together only two years; yet, in that time they’ve won a significant following. TbK’s fans come from a wide spectrum of music lovers — a measure of their diverse appeal is evident in noting the variety of venues the band has played or will soon play: BB King Blues Club (NYC), Ram’s Head (Annapolis, MD), Phoenix Concert Theatre (Toronto), Bonnaroo, and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In March, TbK showcased at the South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals in Austin, TX. Later this month, they will perform at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Silk Hope, NC, and MerleFest.
Perhaps most impressive of all, TbK played the Festival in the Desert this past January in Mali. Held annually in Essakane, Mali — the locale is, indeed, beyond Timbuktu in the Sahara. This international festival draws some of the great acts from Africa and Europe. The 2007 version included Habib Koité, Oumou Sangare, Salif Keita, Vieux Farka Touré, Tinariwen, and, remarkably, Toubab Krewe.
TbK was keeping august company in Essakane.
TbK percussionist Quaranta, recently returned from the adventure in the desert, allowed, during a phone conversation, that the experience was a major thrill.
“We arrived in Bamako on Jan. 7 and had a few days to get ourselves together, and then we traveled to Timbuktu by plane,” he explained. “It was about a four-hour 4x4 ride through the desert to Essakane. It was other-worldly. It was an amazing experience.”
Quaranta went on to note that the response to TbK was quite good, especially from other artists.
“We connected with Baba Salah, who was Oumou Sangare’s lead guitarist for years,” he said. “We actually sat in with him on a couple songs at one of his shows in Bamako. Toumani Diabaté didn’t hear us play, but he got our record, and he had some positive things to say. These are artists who we’ve admired for years, so it was really thrilling to meet them and get some feedback on our music.”
All the band members remained in Mali until Feb. 6, performing and doing some studying. During their stay, they released a cassette of their self-titled debut album.
As noted above, TbK is based in Asheville, and three of the band members — Brown, Heller and Perkins — are from there. Bassist Pransky hails from Vermont, and Quaranta grew up in New Rochelle, NY.
“Both Dave and I came to music a little bit late,” Quaranta said. “I grew up in a musical family. My mom played drums, and my dad actually played, as well. I mostly got interested in West African percussion when I was about 18. That interest led me to travel over there to West Africa.”
Quaranta attended Warren Wilson College (Asheville area) and became involved in a small drum circle.
“That led me to wonder about where the actual drums came from and about the traditional music of Africa,” he recalled. “Our first trip over there was in 1999. We went to Guinea — there’s a really rich culture of djembe music over there.
“Then in 2001, we had a drum and dance group called Common Ground — based in Asheville — and all 15 of us went to Guinea and Ivory Coast for two months to continue our musical studies. Since then it’s just been a progression of trips to West Africa.”
According to Quaranta, it was also during 2001 that Heller and Perkins pursued a growing interest in West African string music — guitar music — to Mali.
“In 2004, they took a four-month to Bamako, Mali, and Justin began to play k’mele ngoni,” Quaranta said. “When they got back, they gave Teal (drums) and Dave (mandolinist turned bass player) and me a call and were like, ‘guys, we gotta start a band.’
Quaranta was ready to go. He’d stayed active with West African percussion with a season with Chuck Davis and the African American Dance Ensemble in Durham, and a two-year stint with a drum and dance company in New York City.
“The group came together perfectly, and the chemistry was there right off the bat. It’s been a pretty amazing two years.”
Asked if the band members had a sense of what they wanted to do musically when they got TbK together, Quaranta replied: “I think we definitely had a vision of staying really true to all the traditional music and studying we’d done in West Africa, but at the same time we wanted to let all the music we’d grown up with come to the forefront, as well.
“We didn’t have a vision of the actual sound we wanted, however. The band’s chemistry took over there — in the creative process.”
In citing influences, Quaranta initially mentioned rock, which came as no surprise.
“Drew has studied a lot of Gypsy guitar — Django Reinhart has been a big influence, for instance,” he continued. “Soul music and hip hop are also influences; there’s a Dirty South backbeat feel to what we do.
“The West African influences are pretty clear with our instrumentation and a lot of our stylings. Even compositionally, the way we shift feels within a song, that’s kind of a trademark of the West African thing — like going from a 4/4 to a 6/8 feel in the middle of a song is definitely characteristic of some of the West African styles.”
Toubab Krewe’s debut CD is available online from CD Baby, and the Krewe is online at www.myspace.com/toubabkrewe and www.toubabkrewe.com.
DISCOLOGY
Various Artists: Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration (Stax)
Anyone who’s a true fan of soul music will see this two-disc release as a must-buy item. Stax is one of the legendary American record labels — any genre — and it set the standard for soul music in the 1960s and ’70s. A lot of music fans will avow that Motown is the American soul label. The argument has merit, to be sure, but for my money you can’t best the Memphis vibe of Stax. The Stax horn sound, the groove-rich feel of the arrangements, the definitive connection with the Muscle Shoals session cats, the unmistakable Southern grit of the music — there was nothing like it in the day, and there’s still nothing like it now. Check out this artist lineup: Otis Redding, The Staple Singers, Sam & Dave, Albert King, The Bar-Keys, Rufus Thomas, The Mar-Keys, Carla Thomas, The Emotions, Johnnie Taylor, Isaac Hayes, Little Milton, Shirley Brown, Eddie Floyd, The Astors, Soul Children, The Dramatics, Booker T. & The MGs. Are you kidding me? And the songs are classic — “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Green Onions,” “Last Night,” “I’ll Take You There,” “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me),” “Who’s Making Love,” “Soul Man,” “Walking The Dog,” “Respect,” “Walk On By,” “Respect Yourself,” “Theme From Shaft,” “Knock On Wood,” “Born Under A Bad Sign,” “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay,” “In The Rain,” “Your Good Thing (Is About To End).” The two discs offer a total of 50 songs and come with massive liner notes by Stax historian Rob Bowman. Best get some of this, music lovers.
Mariza: Mariza: Concerto em Lisboa (Times Square Records)
Portuguese vocalist Mariza is quite possibly the best Fado singer alive today. Certainly Ana Moura, Cristina Branco and Teresa Salgueiro (when she sings Fado) rate notice, as well, but no one is a more charismatic, dramatic fadista than Mariza. This double CD — a live recording featuring Mariza’s usual backing quartet and the Sinfonietta de Lisboa — captures the power and the glory that is Mariza’s voice. She sings with an emotive depth that’s generally only typical of opera, but this isn’t opera. Rather, it’s the music of the bars of Lisbon — a genre that speaks of loss, heartbreak and longing. Fado is often compared to the American blues form, and, indeed, the content of the songs does bear a resemblance to the content of blues numbers. Fado, however, is sheer romanticism, albeit forlorn romanticism, and the music reflects this aspect of the genre. A giant clue to the romantic quality of Fado is the fact that Mariza performs on this disc with a large string orchestra — a very effective pairing. Try to imagine Buddy Guy backed by a 40-piece string section. American blues has a grit that will not mesh with a string orchestra, whereas Mariza flourishes with violins and violas in the mix. Check out this album: Portugal’s legendary music, sung by one of today’s Fado divas, live in concert.