ALL NEWS

NEWS

The Very Best : Warm Heart Of Africa

Sometimes the most fruitful collaborations stem from chance encounters or happy accidents… The Very Best apparently started when Etienne Tron (aka half of sassy DJ/production duo Radioclit, along with Johan Karlberg) bought a second-hand bike from Malawi-born, London-based singer Esau Mwamwaya. The trio’s musical jams really took shape through Radioclit’s club nights and house bashes, however – notably Secousse, their residency at London’s Notting Hill Arts Club, where Esau performed regular live sets. It’s through that party scene – a cross-cultural blast of bits and beats without defined uniforms – that their celebrated mixtape Radioclit And Esau Mwamwaya Are The Very Best was conceived, cheekily skittering through samples from MIA to The Beatles. The Very Best’s debut album proper, Warm Heart Of Africa, seals their production prowess and big-spirited charm; they meld a hotch-potch of flavours, and stir up great fun.

The album’s title obviously highlights where its heart lies (even Swedish Johan enthuses about Malawi as ‘the motherland’ in his Twitter updates), but while The Very Best nod to traditions, they’re never constrained by them. Nor are they afraid of creating snappy tunes – or ‘ghetto pop’, in Radioclit parlance; take the a capella ‘Mwazi’ (a memorable minute or so) or the frothily catchy title track, featuring Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, who sounds like he’s channelling sunshine. The heavily rhythmic productions offset Esau’s warm vocals; the multi-lingual lyrics are tricky to pin down (they’re a blur of romance and vague sloganeering) but the atmosphere is easy to embrace. By the time MIA guests on the tribal stomp of ‘Rain Dance’ (‘Let your feet go smash, smash/ Like you’re making goulash’, she advises ‘helpfully’), it’s clear everyone here is up for it. Warm Heart Of Africa is a snapshot of club culture as a hotbed of creative collisions and good times – a global get-together that’s really building up steam.

The Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa is out now on Moshi Moshi Records
The Very Best tour the US and Europe 21 Oct-12 Dec 09 / www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace

Comments  

// ALSO

• Warm Heart Of Africa
• Abyssinia Infinite "Zion Roots" Network/Harmonia Mundi
• Etnotek, Paris October 2000
• Remembering Nusrat
• Inspiration Information - London shows at Koko and Jazz Café
• The London African Film Festival 29 Nov-07 Dev 2008
• womex 2009, October 30th
• Toumani Diabaté, Toumani Diabaté - My mission is to play
• Afrogroov DJ chart, Afrogroov DJ Chart - Eric Soul's African visions



---




// POST A COMMENT





Nickname *


Your comment (2000 char. max) *


Security code   





---


>> comment it on the forum>>

Podcast
Mondomix podcasts selection.


Rich Mix
Rich Mix celebrates cultural diversity in the arts with a packed programme of music, film, theatre, dance and more.

discover more