BOKA HALAT

THE DRUMMER

REVIEWS

fRoots (Folk Roots – March 2005)

For some time now Boka Halat have been combining English traditions with those of the other disparate cultures to be found on these shores, getting more assured as they go along. This new album is the point at which I stop saying “What an interesting and worthwhile endeavour, I wish them the best of luck with it” and start saying “Bloody hell, this sounds good!” Led by African percussionist Musa Mboob and English accordeonist Roger Watson, with a line-up which includes Asian percussionist Iqbal Khan Pathan, John Dipper on the fiddle, saxman Zem Audu and Juldeh Camara on the West African nyanyaru violin, the Bokas appear to have found a formula that works for them: they take trad English dance tunes and immerse them in the sounds and rhythms that this united nations of musicians bring to the party. The opening Small Coals was featured on the last fRoots covermount CD and its inspired setting of a North Country tune to a skanking battery of sabar and darabuka drums should therefore be familiar. Chill The Squirrel has Audu's sax weaving around Watson's accordeon, whilst the title track lives up to its names with a harder, more percussive sound and Steamboat (described in the sleevenotes as a “jazz hornpipe”) brings things gently to a close.

I'm surprised at quite how much I find myself enjoying all of this. It may feature a range of worldly influences, but at its heart this music has a strong English trad pulse. Currently mainstream popular music is at its most insular and it's taken a couple of old folkies and a bunch of traditionalists from various other places, to make something which, in its own offbeat and warm-hearted way, does a good job of summing up our current cultural climate. Worth giving a listen to, even if you think you're not going to like it. (Jamie Renton)

Keith Kendrick (February 05)

OK – First off, let me say this CD is the latest (and most convincing) testament to the unquestionable validity – nay – paramount importance of the sterling work put in by Roger Watson as director of the now famous TAPS Project over the last ten or so years. Not to mention the amazing selection of top-drawer international musicians that have contributed so much to such a gem: Gambian master drummer Musa Mboob, who has developed the band together with Roger over the past 6 years; Iqbal Khan Pathan, Daniel Dotor-Cespedes, Zem Audu, Juldeh Camara and John Dipper.

There's little point in me waxing lyrical about track detail as the highly informative and authoritative insert notes do this so well – what I can tell you is that this recording is bursting with delightful and infectious rhythms, sound textures and arrangement flourishes so as to make your eyes pop out at times. There's all manner of fundamental musical genres present – blues, jazz, calypso, reggae – you name it: it's all there and all at once most of the time.

The nature of the ensemble is, to my mind, best described as a very clever, effective and intuitive global approach to English/British derived music. Each one of the varied culturally indigenous musicians have inserted their own uncompromising style to the interpretation of the traditional music of this fair Isle. This is ‘World Music' in the clearest sense as far as I am concerned. Whilst the material may be largely English, the music is not! Neither is it African, Indian, Italian nor any other – it is simply the best representation of ‘One World' music to reach my ears so far.

One of the aspects that makes this a world beater – as it were – is that whilst it is a supremely dance-inducing presentation packed with bags of player innovation and little bits of special performances to focus on if you wish – it also stands up as a great CD to play as a background to anything else you're doing to keep your spirits high without distracting your concentration. Few recordings in my experience ever achieve this dual attributional excellence.

It's hard to criticise to be perfectly frank – but here's the only bone of contention I can muster – it's too bloody short!

I'd be more than willing to take my hat off to Roger and all the players that make up this amazing creation – but last time I did that for someone – I got it nicked!

Suffice it to say, in the words of the (not as good) 90's pop song – ‘Nobody Does it Better!'

Good onyer chaps! (Keith Kendrick)

Sussex Folk Diary (June - July 05)

Boka Halat seem to be on to something really good. The line-up does seem to vary but the approach - combining English dances tunes with African and Indian rhythms - is a winner. Three ever-presents are the melodeon of Roger Watson and the fascinating cross-cultural percussion of Musa Mboob and
Iqbal Khan Pathan. Making a particularly interesting contribution here is a second Gambian, Juldeh Camara, playing an African one-string fiddle, the riti.

This album should be of particular interest to local tune session musicians to see the particular slant that Boka Halat put on popular Sussex tunes such as  "Galloway Girth", "Brothers In York" and "The New Moon".

Of course, the acid test for a band like this must be - does the music work for dancing? My experience is that it does so; wonderfully well. (Vic Smith)

TalkAwhile - Fairport Convention Web Forum (August 05)

This is great! I can't really describe it properly - give it a go - fusion is not the word, more a blending of English and lots of other traditions - Gambian, Punjabi, Bengali, Caribbean and lots more. It really sounds good in the car, but you may swerve about a bit so avoid 14 lane superhighways.  

The band currently consists of Roger Watson (Traditional Arts eminence grise and former Muckram Wakes member with John Tams) - Musa Mboob from Gambia, Iqbal Khan Pathan, Daniel Dotor-Cespedes, and the amazing Zem Audu on tenor sax who is absolutely mindblowing (he's on the CD, but not very prominently).

They are doing the odd festival this year and a gig in Chesterfield Market Hall on October 29th. (Ed Grummitt)

EFDSS English Dance & Song Magazine (Autumn 2005)

It shouldn't work. A fusion of English country dance tunes, West Indian rhythms, saxophone and steel pan. That is does is an indication of the musical intelligence behind Boka Halat (‘mutual inspiration' in Wolof) and the fact that there is a maturing of the meeting of cultures in this country which bodes well for the future. Andrew Cronshaw's superb Ochre demonstrated what English folk music sounds like to people of other cultures. The Drummer takes the same idea and turns up the volume. Not that there isn't thought and finesse in the fusion – this is as much a listening experience as a dancing one. Roger Watson's melodeon, Musa Mboob's sabar drum and Iqbal Khan Pathan's percussion are joined by the riti (one-string violin – puts me in mind of an older generation of rough and exciting fiddlers like Walter Bulwer) of Juldeh Camara, Zem Audu's sax and John Dipper's fiddle. The tunes are a mix of old favourites and new compositions cleverly adapted to carry the Afro/Indian rhythms and the whole thing rocks. I, for one, will be looking out for Boka on my travels this year. (Mike Gavin)

Songlines World Music Magazine (July/August 2005 #31)

Definitely a case of too many cooks

It's the difference between knowing how to cook, and just chucking random ingredients together and hoping for the best. The liner notes even spell out this CD's recipe for disaster (should you wish to try it at home): ‘ the English tradition has some great dance tunes, the Gambian tradition has some great rhythms. Combine the two, add a touch of Indian spice… jazz improvisation… driving bass grooves… and you have the essential dance music for a multicultural 21 st century England.'

This is the sort of thing that has given fusion a bad name: the misuse of a talented percussionist like Moussa (sic) Mboob (amongst others) to exoticise naff country dances. Bad arrangements, bad conceptions, and accompaniment that doesn't change or fit the solos (evidently multitracked as the tempos are inflexible – there is no jazz here, since jazz, of course, implies interaction). The grooves don't sit, there are some horribly wrong notes and an overall worst-of-all-worlds grating blandness.

As tidy as the sound is it just serves to highlight the one overbearing meta-mistake: you cannot make ‘multicultural' music without actually understanding the cultures you are combining. Accordionist and leader Roger Watson clearly does not. Sorry, back to the kitchen. (Barak Schmool)

Songlines World Music Magazine (September/October 2005 #32)

Readers' Letters

ENGLAND HAS ROOTS TOO

It is very easy to write a review about a CD that we do not like, anyone can find a few acerbic words and string them together. It takes intelligence and a bit of work to review a CD like Boka Halat's The Drummer [#31] and put one's musical criticisms into the context of what the group is trying to communicate. It is very apparent that Barak Schmool does not like English country dance music, and it should not bethe place of reviewers to like everything that they listen to. However, I find it disturbing that someone who has the privileged position of having their words put into print apparently has no interest in exploring how English traditional music can respond to and interact with other musical traditions.

England is part of the world too and until recently our musical traditions were dying on their feet. Roger Watson has done more than almost anyone to do something about that and I would have more time for comments from Schmool if I thought that he was going to make such a significant contribution to the culture of this country. (Rachel Pantin - by email)