Customer Reviews

Bata Ketu

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Portuguese and Spanish imperialists brutally kidnapped West Africans to work as slaves in Brazil and Cuba, respectively, they were more likely to be justifying their greed under religious guises than thinking "Hey, this will make for some pretty amazing music in a few hundred years."

BATA KETU reunites the Afro-legacies of Cuban and Brazilian slaves that survived and evolved independently in the new colonies, using their common elements. Both cultures use call-and-response singing to praise and invoke the Orishas (saints,) for example, and you may hear songs to a particular Orisha from both cultures side-by-side. Perhaps my favorites, however, are the irresistible clave-based rhythms that permeate the Western Hemisphere so thoroughly as to be heard not only in Cuba and Brazil, but also in American songs like the Hand Jive or Aiko Aiko.

This convergence is so natural and effortless that we are reminded just how much of our own popular music is influenced by the African culture that American slaveowners didn't manage to eradicate.

This brings to mind the most important things this "Musical Interplay" accomplishes - it walks the line between authenticity and listenability. It's beautifully recorded without being overproduced or glossy. It retains its folk roots while managing to avoid sounding like a Smithsonian field recording. You can (and should) dance to this record, and may even find yourself singing, `Tibi tire. Atinxe ewa... Tibi tire..." in the car on your way to work.

In a market replete with the watered-down, homogenous "world music" product record companies think the American public is 'ready' for, this album stands out as among the best international releases ever. I would recommend this disc to anyone who likes Cuban, Brazilian, or African (including Afrikan-American!) music.

First of all, I must agree with reviewer Jabari Adisa, that this CD is "phenomenal!...an interesting mix of folkloric and popular music that inspires movement and smiles and all around 'upfull' vibes." Bata Ketu has no equal in the realm of experimental folklore and will appeal to many people who would ordinarily not be interested in hearing drums and chants.

Jabari Adisa however, is mistaken as to the real creative force behind Bata Ketu. Michael Spiro and Mark Lamson are two unique musicians who have learned on a very deep level, both Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian music. The panoramic scope of Bata Ketu reveals these two percussionist's musical genius and its no wonder Spiro is also a composer of film scores. Lamson and Spiro never claim to be the composers of these songs for ancestral deities. They are the arrangers who successfully blended several distinct genres with mastery. Together they recorded scores of instruments, sounding like an enormous orchestra of percussion. They play the music with the utmost integrity.

When I visited the great "Chacha" in Matanzas, Cuba, he and his friends were listening to Bata Ketu on a little boom box and singing happily along with every song. They loved it! I was blown away! Chacha was a founding member of Los Munequitos and one of the greatest elder bata drum masters on the island. He left the living room for a minute, returned with a bembe drum he had carved and began jamming over the top of the CD. The night before I was at another house in Matanzas where a Yoruba ceremony was about to begin and they had Bata Ketu on their stereo as well!

Vocalists Bobi Cepedes and Jorge Alabe shine out front in this recording, with Michael and Mark cooking behind them. To state that "two white guys get the credit for this African creativity" is a thoughtless racist statement that's well... thoughtless and racist. Listen to the CD and read the liner notes. You will want to dance!

This is an exelent compilation of yoruba music, encompases some of the more unusual orixas songs like ozayin since in traditional santeria tapes this orixa is excluded, has a samba flavor to it making it more apealing to the ear, but farther from the original rithims, also the candomble rithm comes in play making it a must have, especially for those who want to expand ther minds and limits.

if your looking for legit african/spiritual music that will bring out the spirits from above, this is the one.
whoever said this album is boring dosn't know what he is talking about. this album is a real as you can get and has a beautiful
rhythm that will make you dance and comtemplate.
it is one of the best i have ever heard. my only regret is that
the composers only have this album.

BATA KETU took the Yoruba-based religious music of Cuba and blended in the Afro-based religious music of Brazil to produce a re-meeting of the two cultures separated at birth.
BATA KETU is the achievement of years of experimentation with Orisha music and Afro-Cuban sound, and is a 'must' for any drum or Cuban collection.

This album is a great accomplishment - and shows full respect for the Yoruban traditions, revealing how the traditional African rhythms traveled globally and were woven into other cultures. Bobi Cespedes' rich voice, Lamson and Spiro's percussion, along with many wonderful Brazilian and Cuban musicians, combined to produce a danceable masterpiece.

I loved the way these artists fused bata and canto de orisha with Zimbabwean mbira! A fresh (to my ears, at least) sound that made me appreciate similarities in the music of each that I hadn't considered before. To me, bata and mbira have very different kinds of ethereal qualities and I don't think I ever would have thought of mixing them. But what a happy marriage.

When you walk in my home during bembe, ceremony or festival this CD is playing. When I am doing my house work or just relaxing this CD is playing. We that love Orisa ...will love this CD! Orisa children all over the world will love the inter-multi-percussion grooves and rhythms! Olodumare's children praising TOGETHER... In Brazil, ,In Cuba, In Africa, In the Caribbean and In the United States. How soon we forget 9-11 Brothers and Sisters. Its time to focus on what this CD has done in honor of the Human Family!Delight in Obatala / Osun / Sango creativity energy!Celebrate Orisa in spirit and in Truth. FOLKz this CD is the Bomb!

I should plainly state that the music on this CD is phenomenal! An interesting mix of "folkloric" and "popular" music that inspires movement and smiles and all around 'upful' vibes. Not all of the songs are listed, however. There's part of a song to Oxumare in there that doesn't get credited. My biggest complaint with the CD, however, isn't with the contents, but with who gets credit for it. Michael Spiro and Mark Lamson are credited as the 'composers' but these songs and styles existed long before Spiro and Lamson were even a gleam in their respective father's eyes. Listen to any other Yoruba music and you'll find the same fundamental rhythms and chants.

Jorge Alabe and Bobi Cespedes are the cultural beacons here and it seems they - if anyone - would be credited on the cd cover. The fact that Spiro and Lamson plaster their faces on the label side of the CD itself (when they were, ostensibly the financiers of the project and, most assuredly, background musicians) indicates a severe level of cultural arrogance and Eurocentric insensitivity. Yes, it's a great CD, I just can't understand why two white guys get the credit for this African creativity. It would have been a grand gesture had they willingly taken the back seat and allowed the cultural context to speak for itself. Instead, they chose to amplify their limited input to god-like status. Things that make you go hmmm....

I'd give it a '5' if I didn't have misgivings about Spiro and Lamson's motives here.

I just got done buying this C.D. for the third time (I've lost and damaged my others). This is, hands down, the best C.D. I've ever owned!