Life No Get Dublicate (Slow Walk Music, 2014)
Guitarist Aaron Feder and his kick ass crew Alma Afrobeat Ensemble are back with their latest Life No Get Dublicate set for release on November 11th on the Slow Walk Music label. With the 2010 Toubab Soul and the 2011 Toubab Resouled, Alma Afrobeat Ensemble hits the listener with this dishy and delicious take on modern Afrobeat. Produced by Mr. Feder with bassist Fernando “Dinky” Redondo, Life No Get Dublicate is ripe with tantalizing rhythms, bold brassy flash and tangy guitar and bass lines.
Recorded in Barcelona, mixed in Madrid and mastered in Boston, Life No Get Dublicate overflows with international connections within the group and even the vocals as Senegalese lead singer Babacar Gaye takes on Wolof, French, Spanish and English lyrics. Fans get an extra treat with cover artwork by Lemi Ghariokwu, who did the artwork for famed Afrobeat master Fela Kuti’s most well-known recordings.
Kicking things off with the hip “Blind Mind,” Alma Afrobeat Ensemble immerses the listener is a sharply worked Afrobeat sound that comes across as sophisticated and polished. In addition to bassist Mr. Redondo, guitarist Mr. Feder, lead vocalist Mr. Gaye, Alma Afrobeat Ensemble’s line-up includes drummer Gustavo “Tato” Sassone, percussionist Didier Roch, keyboardist and backing vocalist Paquito de la Iguana, guitarist Octavio Hernandez, bassoonist and backing vocalist Alfonso Fernandez, alto saxophonist and vocalist Lucila Ciocoletto and trombonist Aurora Arenare. Smart and stylish, Alma Afrobeat Ensemble works through sizzling tracks like the savory 9:45 minute track “Topo,” the sassy brassed “QSQ” with vocals by Ms. Ciocoletto and the dazzlingly delicious “Nena Mentein.”
Savagely cool, Life No Get Dublicate slakes that thirst for what comes next in the evolution of Afrobeat. Marked by tight, neat musicianship and innovative sound, Alama Afrobeat Ensemble is indeed a bright spot on the Afrobeat scene.
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
