Holy Forest (2015)
The Holy Forest album is a multidimensional musical project envisioned by musician, producer and documentary filmmaker Jon Fine. He brought together musicians from various continents and musical genres to create a fabulous world music mix of West African kora, Afrobeat horns, reggae beats, jazz, classic soul vocals and blues.
The album is conceived as a sequence of songs from the holy forest, a place that we long to return. Fine was inspired by a trip he made to Gambia’s Makasutu forest, a blooming-green area of mangrove swamps. While in Gambia, he connected with kora maestro Tata Din Din Jobarteh.
Throughout several years, Fine recruited friends and colleagues to his recording sessions, including neo-soul singer Ed “Preachermann” Holley, Tata Din Din Jobarteh members of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, singer-songwriter Morley Kamen, vocalist Seraphim, Jamaican singer Sparlha Swa, and kora virtuoso Youssoupha Sidibe.
The recording gatherings inspired Fine to put together a live band featuring Ed “Preachermann” Holley and jali (griot) musician Salieu Suso. They’ll be playing for the album release party on October 23rd at The Shrine in Harlem (New York) and at the monthly party “Africanoir” at Cmoneverybody in Brooklyn (New York) on October 25th.
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Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
