Diverse Women Artists: Asili ya Mama Review – Tanzanian Field Recordings Tell Women’s Stories with a Lively Rhythm | music

FCollecting folk songs by women has a long history, but it also represents an exciting present, as this collection of 10 active Tanzanian field recordings demonstrates. Created by documentary filmmaker Ruth Ndito and musician Mseferi Zaos (brother of Bindu of the illustrious Queens of Zaos, and son of the late folk pioneer Hukui), Mother’s Descent showcases the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic invention of the Wagogo, Waluguro and Wasamba women. Here are songs that “carried culture and music into everyday life,” as the liner says, while rarely being heard outside of their communities.

Almost in unison with the chirping of passing birds, an energetic singer begins the album’s opener, Baba Mwenda, a story-telling song that warns against greed. Other women join in in unison, as do traditional shakers and tin drums, in a playful challenge. Next comes the wedding song “Chamsula,” driven by the sonorous ringing of a mimi drum and harmonies filled with shimmering opacity, like a midnight blue sea, and then “Chamuelua,” a fast-paced song about the formal union of families after marriage, which accelerates toward its conclusion with rhythmic force.

The call-and-response singing recorded in courtyards, houses and open village spaces is infectious, as are the vocal solos and blasts on Ngangavirimbi’s flutes, which serve as sparkling punctuation. The themes of the songs are also powerfully expressed through their performance. In Kuku Mnywa Maji, a song about love and companionship, voices and instruments are woven together in tight repetition, while in Mlembwe, a song about understanding the life experiences of others, deeper layers of harmony are built like foundation stones. In this and their final tremolo-filled track, Sunyunize, we also hear women leading men, expressions now recorded, archived and widely shared, adding to their beautiful power.

Also out this month

The ghost of Bert Jansch floats majestically Sam GracieThe debut album by Where Two Hawks Fly (Broadside Hacks). It’s not an imitation, but Jansch’s authority resonates in Grassie’s fearless rendition of songs like Burning of Auchindoun and his intricately arranged guitars. The woodwinds at Urshi and Kishore Falls also sound amazing. Jim Murray He celebrates 25 years in the traditional folk business by dressing up as a Whittlesea Straw Bear and carrying an electric guitar on his eighth album, Gallants. His bold, bright voice is particularly poignant on Shetland’s When I Was a Little Kid, driven by the moody bass and drums, and the Wilco-like swagger of American Stranger. Scottish folk musician and singer Anna McLuckieThe Little Winters (Hudson Records) also offers 10 supporting bolts of frosty light. Particularly spiky and lovely songs include New Northern Lullaby, a McLuckie original, and The Dark Island, a nice twist on a score by traditional Scottish musician Ian McLachlan.