Acoustic and electronic sounds, traditional African rhythms and urban beats – and always that special sparkle of the kora. Seckou Keita offers an intoxicating brew on his new album, Homeland (Chapter 1).
Release Date: 18th October 2024
Label: Hudson Records
Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital
A GATHERING OF STRANDS
Champion of the kora, international collaborator and devout believer in the power of music as a force for good. Seckou Keita is all of these, and more. Born and raised in southern Senegal before relocating to Nottinghamshire, England, Seckou has, since the late 1990s, been the driving force behind some 15 (or so) albums – either as a solo performer, a member of ensembles such as EtE and AKA, as a collaborator in duos with the likes of Welsh harpist Catrin Finch or Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa, or even as an orchestra leader. Now, with Homeland (Chapter 1), Seckou brings many of those strands together for an album packed with inspired collaborations and a mix of cultures and languages – Mandinka, Wolof, French and English – that reference all parts of his life experiences.
The album’s story began back in 2017, when a series of Pan-African collaborations led to Seckou recording a track with Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal. That collaboration, followed by his observations of the devastation of the global COVID pandemic, inspired Seckou to delve deeper into the potential of music as a healing force, as he explains: “Since the events of 2020, my mind and heart have been actively seeking the answers to so many questions in relation to my UK adopted home and my Senegalese native one. Two lands, two homes, and all the places I regularly visit in between; each place embracing family, friends, music and stories.”
THE SPARKLE OF THE KORA
Homeland (Chapter 1) – and the album’s press release provides no clues as to whether a Chapter 2 is planned; let’s hope that it is… – is an album with much to offer. Pop, ballads, dance rhythms, acoustic intimacy and hip hop have all found their niche here, alongside copious references to Seckou’s griot heritage and, always, the tunes are illuminated by the sheer sparkle (that’s a word that I might be using a lot…) of Seckou’s kora and an irresistible pattering African percussion beat.
In a wise move, Seckou and producer Moussa Ngom have opted to open and close Homeland with a taste of griot; to set the scene and to expose the foundations upon which the rest of the album’s tunes take their cue. It’s a wonderful introduction to the mellow, soothing sound of the kora against which, on opening track, Bienvenue, Seckou offers a spoken-word welcome dialogue.
The sparkle of the kora remains very much at centre-stage for Home Sweet Home, an enticing song that blends Seckou’s sweet choirboy vocals with the gritty rap of Senegalese duo Daara J Family, and we stick with the musical hybrid theme for Ni Mala Beugué, the album’s lead single, as Seckou mixes the Mbalax rhythms of rural Senegal with an infectious urban beat. The touch is light, the rhythms are compulsive and the vocals are angelic.
The funky, danceable Chaque Jour, the album’s second single, is one of the real highlights of Homeland. It’s another of Seckou’s international concoctions, with electric rhythms and soulful vocals topped off, once again, with sprinkles of kora.
LYRICAL MESSAGES – IN FOUR LANGUAGES…
I guess that there will be relatively few listeners able to comprehend all the lyrical messages of Homeland – the mix of languages that have been used will see to that – but that mustn’t be allowed to diminish the contribution that words, and poetry in particular, make to Homeland. And, for the English speakers amongst the listening demographic, there are a pair of thought-provoking verbal interludes with which to engage. Zena Edwards is first up with her recitation of her thoughts from a train journey in Reflections as, to a soft, gentle, kora accompaniment, she embodies much of the album’s raison d’être with words like: “A heart is always in motion… towards a homeland always just out of reach.”
And, sticking with the poetic interludes, Hannah Lowe delivers a devastating message as she contemplates the horrors and indignities suffered by deportees in Deportation Blues. Speaking of victims of our deportation laws – “…the ex-soldier, the diabetic, the boy who came, aged three…” – she muses how the treatment of such people, imposed because they may have committed a minor transgression such as dope smoking or speeding, splits families and ruins lives.
THE POTENCY OF SENEGALESE INFLUENCES
A feast of pattering percussion, tinkling kora and heavenly vocal harmonies, Badoula epitomizes the music of Senegal, whilst the catchy, sophisticated pop of Bete Sona demonstrates how far those Sengalese influences can be stretched without losing any of their potency. And that’s a point that’s emphasized even more strongly by Nay Rafet, the album’s most recent single and another vibrant mix of Mbalax and urban rhythms.
Yerebe is light and summery, with kora once again adding a special sparkle (that word again…) to the song’s reggae-like feel, before things are brought almost to a close by Watkili. In another world, it would be a poppy ballad, but the African rhythms lift the song to a whole new level, and there’s a wonderfully inspiring message to the lyrical coda: “I can do it; you can do it; we can do it; they can do it.” It’s simple, but it’s so very true.
It’s left to Kibaro to close Homeland with a final shot of griot and that’s, somehow, appropriate. Homeland (Chapter 1) is a fascinating album; I’ve already wondered whether Homeland (Chapter 2) is in the pipeline. For every discerning listener’s sake, I hope that it is.
Watch the official video to Chaque Jour, one of three singles to be taken from the album, here:
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