Music / verdensmusik - world music

Transitional times


Reviews (4)


Gaffa [online]

d. 7. Nov. 2016

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Torben Holleufer

d. 7. Nov. 2016

"Det er en meget ambitiøs plade, herboende gambianske Dawda Jobarteh har lavet. Fem år er der gået siden han udsendte sin debut, som blev skamrost ikke mindst af engelske Songlines. Nu kommer så endelig den svære toer, og har den så været ventetiden værd? Jeg synes det ikke helt ... Den er meget pæn ... Jeg havde nok forventet langt mere fra Dawda Jobarteh. For ja, han spiller fortsat forrygende på sin kora. Og der er et hav af rum og en snurrig jazzet følelse på pladen. Hvor jeg for alvor er glad for Bright Sky Over Monrovia, ligesom vi til slut får en traditionel kora-tur, som minder os om, at det trods alt er Toumani Diabates onkel, vi har i spil her".


PopMatters

d. 17. Nov. 2016

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Adriane Pontecorvo

d. 17. Nov. 2016

"In nimble hands like Dawda Jobarteh's, [the kora] can sound like starlight, as capable of playing West African folk music as twangy bluegrass or smoky jazz or a host of other styles. Jobarteh makes the kora's versatility, as well as his own, crystal clear on Transitional Times, a no-holds-barred demonstration of musicianship and string power. There's a breathtaking range of music here, from Scandinavian lullabies to acid hits of Afrofuturism, and every second of it is absolutely beautiful".


RootsWorld

2016

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Dylan McDonnell

2016

"Gambian multi-instrumentalist Dawda Jobarteh and his top-notch band of Danish, Cameroonian, Ghanaian, Cuban, and Gambian musicians embrace an accessible fluidity of styles, and thus emotions, on Transitional Times. The album centers on Jobarteh's masterful playing on the kora, the Mandinka West African harp that has became a staple piece of transnational "world music" projects. His group's particular matrix of plucked strings, electric rock instrumentation, spiritual jazz, and a loosely unifying theme allows them to toy with labels and stereotypes while opening into less-trodden ground".


fRoots

2017 Jan/Feb

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Vic Smith

2017 Jan/Feb

"[Dawda's] varied background is reflected in this album. At one end of the spectrum there is "Dalua" where the solo kora sounds as though it was recorded in a Brikama compound from the way it drifts into a start from a conversation with bird song (a bulbul?) in the background ... At the other end there is John Coltrane's "Transition" where he spars with saxophone, bass and drums, and the experimental jazz played on an electric kora with effects on "Jamming In The Fifth Dimension". In between these extremes there is also rich variety with some breathtaking inventiveness in the kora playing. You will find very few kora records where the possibilities of this wonderful instrument are explored more thoroughly than they are here; you will find none where the kora is better recorded".