I’m just back from Mexico, where there are continuing protests at corruption, violence and the government response to the disappearance, and probably massacre, of 43 student teachers. Demonstrators closed down the airport at Oaxaca as I was trying to leave, and I was reminded of this 2005 track, in which that great Mexican band Los De Abajo were joined by Neville Staples for a brilliant re-working of the angry Funboy Three anthem.
One of the best live shows I saw last year came from this Brazilian band, praised by Tony Allen as “inventors for the new music scene in Brazil”. They come from São Paulo and their influences include punk rock, free-form jazz, and the spiritual music of candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion. This is the opening song from their album Metal Metal, in which all those influences are combined.
The remarkable Thompson Family album and the subsequent live shows at London’s Kings Place both began with Teddy Thompson singing this pained, honest and powerful tribute to his parents Richard and Linda. They were the finest folk partnership in Britain until their very public break-up over 30 years ago, and Teddy describes living in their shadow with the memorable line “Sean Lennon, you know what I mean”. An extraordinary song.
The great folk comeback of last year came from the London-based Canadian singer Bonnie Dobson. A major star back in the 60s, she was coaxed out of retirement by the Hornbeam label, teamed up with an excellent band and recorded an impressive new album in which she re-worked many of her old songs. This song from the 60s still sounds dangerous and psychotic.
Currently touring with Mike Heron of Incredible String Band fame, Trembling Bells emerged from the latest psychfolk movement to create an intriguing and quirky style that mixed folk-rock anthems with melodies that are as sturdy as great traditional songs. This is from The Constant Pageant album, recorded for the Honest Jon’s label, and features soaring, almost operatic vocals from Lavinia Blackwell. It’s nearly four years old, but is one of those songs I keep playing.
Old Crow Medicine Show are a rousing live band, as they proved on their UK tour last year, and have managed to attract both country, folk and rock fans thanks to their musicianship, energy and enthusiasm. Their latest album Remedy showed the range of their material, from stomping country-rockers to thoughtful harmony laments, and included this cheerfully upbeat country ballad, co-written with Bob Dylan.
The finest and most emotional African re-union shows of the last year came from a band that was originally assembled in the early 1970s by a senior member of Mali’s military junta to entertain his guests at a Bamako motel. Les Ambassadeurs included Salif Keita and Amadou Bagayoko (later part of the star duo Amadou and Mariam) and they were on impressive form at WOMAD in the summer. A double album of their early work was released to co-incide with their reunion, and included this slinky track from 1977, featuring fine vocals from Salif.
The Gloaming are one of the great success stories of the past year, thanks to both their self-titled debut album and live performances at WOMAD and elsewhere. They are special both because of their musicianship and bravery, with the great fiddle-player Martin Hayes and long-term accompanist, the guitarist Dennis Cahill, joined by the soulful singer Iarla Ó Lionaird and pianist Thomas “Doveman” Bartlett, who transforms a Hayes fiddle reel in this adventurous work-out.
Taken from her 2013 album Hidden Seam, this is one of those songs that at first sound like a gimmick, and then stick in the brain. Anyone who can transform a list of the British Sea Areas (Viking, Fastnet and the rest) into a moody and drifting ballad has to be a great singer. The production work comes from her husband and musical partner, the ever-experimental Gerry Diver.
I met this young South African band at the Oslo World Music Festival in the autumn and was impressed by their energy, experimentation, and the sheer variety of their work. They described their songs as “transitional music for a transitional generation” and switched from acoustic funeral laments to edgy and theatrical indie rock and funk with a distinctive South African edge. Worth checking out live when they are next here.
