Kotoko Brass is an ensemble whose music is inspired by the drumming of the Assante Kingdom in Central Ghana. They mix it with Caribbean and New Orleans sounds for some terrific work. I’m not partial to the term “dance music” (what if I don’t dance?), but it applies. On October fourth, the group played a free concert at (outdoor, socially-distanced) Starlight Square, Cambridge, that was livecast. There were eight musicians, playing: a drum set; three sets of African drums; two electric guitars; keys; trombone; tenor sax.
What’s so great about this group is that the drumming is at times mesmerizing without ever being overpowering. It has complexity and – exceptional for drums – subtlety.
Each song ran eight minutes or so, totaling about an hour. First piece was a new song and ran, like the others, about 10 minutes. The second was traditional – from the court of Assante king – with a passage when three drummers took over. Then the trombone and sax joined in, starting with prolonged notes, morphing into a monotone staccato and finally doubling with a lead line.
In one song the front man told us to yell “Amen” (I think it was “Amen”; I’m not sure. It might have been “Anem” or even “Aden“) in response to his prompt, “Ago”. There was only a light, tapping percussion behind us, one that we might not even hear consciously. Unfortunately, he didn’t explain this call-response passage – but I was shouting out in my living room.
In the most interesting moments the drummers did some very nice work, syncopated or polyrhythmic. This type of work is staggered, and the forward motion is unclear. Dance music? You’d have to be pretty talented to dance to this – but I’m sure the crowd at Starlight Square did.
One of the drummers demonstrated the talking drums. Each of the two drums has two pitches. They said “The divine drummer says you should listen! Today’s a big day for all of you!” And then they called for the king to come home. A strange choice of message.
This is all an interesting amalgam of styles. And sometimes the musicians would sort of dance – great! Generally, each song morphed into something other than what it began as. And I’ve learned that quiet drumming can give music a real urgency. The work was marred only by some spacey and dated electronic effects from the keys.
At the end of the concert, when the saxophonist was introduced, he quoted a line from the habanera in Carmen – just to remind us that all music relates to all other music. Nice work, Kotoko Brass!
For the concert, see:
Author: Steve Capra
