Africa Express Presents – Terry Riley’s: In C Mali (Transgressive/ Planet Company)

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Every now and then an idea occurs of such simple genius that all you can do is take off your hat and acknowledge it for what it is.

This was the case for Terry Riley’s 1964 composition In C. It’s definitely one of the most popular minimalist compositions ever written. There have been multiple versions over the last 50 odd years, with possibly the most unique Portishead’s Adrian Utley recording it with 19 guitarists, but none have ever been like this.

The piece originally began with Steve Reich playing a C note on his wurlitzer, which became a repetitive percussive metronome over which the rest of the musicians played a series of 53 or so melodic phrases, all played at varying times in any order to create curious variations. As a result the piece could go for anything from 15 minutes to four hours.
German Conductor Andre de Ridder, who has worked with everyone from Uri Cane to Philharmonic Orchestras and Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz has now transplanted this classic piece to Mali, some 50 years later. The Albarn connection seems to be the link, with the Blur frontman, theatre composer and producer regularly visiting and collaborating with musicians in the West African country via Africa Express, an organisation established to promote collaboration between African and Western musicians.

They’ve grabbed Brian Eno (who contributes vocals), guitarist Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), guitarist Jeff Wootton (Gorillaz) and even Mouse on Mars Andi Toma who plays percussion and kalimba. Albarn contributes some really fascinating melodica, which is simultaneously out of place and sublime whilst the conductor Ridder offers violin.
The key however is the presence of the African musicians who remove it from the concert hall. Transplanting the wurlitzer to the kalimba and balafon is a stroke of genius. It makes In C a jam and offers a real sense of unrestrained freedom as musicians of the calibre of Kalifa Kone, Meme Kone both on balafon and Alou Coulibaly (Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba) on calabash and Badou Mbaye on djembe go to town and it feels loose. There are specific moments of sublime beauty here, such as when the kora comes in and its like the sun has just peeked through the clouds, also a gentle moment midway where the percussion dies away and we’re treated to some spoken word from Metronomy’s Olugbenga.

There’s the fusion element too, and though they’ve seemingly broken many of Riley’s rules transplanting one of the cornerstones of western minimal music to an African arena, what they’ve created actually extends Riley’s composition offering a more organic freer jam feel, whilst still that is simply remarkable.

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Bob is the features editor of Cyclic Defrost. He is also evil. You should not trust the opinions of evil people.

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