Algerian born electronic adventurer Cheb i Sabbah has returned to India for his seventh album on Six Degrees. His last album, 2005’s La Kahena was the result of a visit to Algeria and Morocco, gathering some of the most unique vocalists and musicians from throughout the Magreb and uniting their traditions with his more electronic dance orientated concerns. What was incredible about La Kahena was the subtlety of his integration. Make no mistake this was world music fusion, of which there are numerous manipulative, at times positively colonial train-wrecks, yet this was not an addition to the pile. Sabbah’s electronics seemed entirely consistent with the spirit and the traditions of his sources and the music was positively joyful. Devotion unites Hindu, Sufi and Sikh traditions under one umbrella. His approach is consistent with its predecessor, gathering incredible vocalists and instrumentalists from across the subcontinent. His focus is on the vocalists who he often allows to begin a piece, gorgeously recorded wails, often in isolation before the instrumentation begins. When it does Sabbah’s focus is on percussion, often building upon the percussion and integrating electronic percussive elements as a means to take the piece into a more beat/ dance orientated realm. The pieces invariably begin untreated and move into a more electronic realm, though discovering just where and how this occurs takes some investigation. Unlike La Kahena there’s a certain sheen to the music, the kind of impossibly lush production that is entirely too prevalent in world music, where everything is heavily reverbed like it’s occurring in a large hall. This kind of perfect production really impacts on your ability to connect emotionally with the music which is a real shame because Sabbah is an incredibly interesting producer and there’s no doubting his own spiritual and emotional connection, it’s just a shame that his techniques have distanced it somewhat for the rest of us.
Bob Baker Fish
