Customer Reviews

Gilfema

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

 

 

It's surprisingly satisfying to hear progressive jazz played on a nylon string guitar. The electric guitar is a beautiful instrument, and distortion and other electronic effects are wonderful, but there is something distinctively immediate and warm about the sound of nylon. This music is a combination of African folk and pop music and early fusion, and reminds me in places of Dave Holland. Like George Benson and Kurt Rosenwinkel, Lionel Louke sings with his single note playing, which gives the music more emotional complexity and depth, and although he plays an acoustic guitar throughout he uses distortion and a wah-wah on the last two tracks. The album is beautifully produced and packaged, and the acoustic bass--Massimo Biolcati--and the drums--Ferenc Nemeth--are energetic, clear and precise. I don't know why this album has not received more attention. It's certainly one of the best 2005 albums that I've heard.

i bought this cd after i listened to one of the tunes on the radio: really good musicians, a particular voice (very "african") and a bright sound.
it features guitar and voice (only on some titles), bass and drums.

after listening to all the cd i can confirm the impression about the musicians and the sound, but the music is quite similar from one piece to another. where the voice adds to the instruments it gives an originals taste, while on some other titles it seems to listen to some kind of soft "fusion" music, extremely well played but not particularly original.

Gorgous music performed by some very gifted players.

I'm buying up anything I can find with Lionel Loueke on it.

Cheers,
Matt

The Gilfema Trio hails from Benin, Sweeden, and Hungary; the "+2" others play the clarinet and the ocarina. The group aims for an African - jazz - world fusion sound and incorporates clapping, vocals in an African language, and nylon string guitars. So, it could make for some interesting music, but I think instead this music comes out sounding confused, unsure of itself, and a bit cheesy. The ocarina is especially bizarre (e.g. on track 5) since I thought those things only existed at Renaissance Fairs. Salome(tk 4) sticks closest to a modern jazz feel, features the clarinetist and is recommended. I don't listen to a lot of world music so maybe all of this album is more revolutionary in that setting. But in my opinion, it doesn't mesh into anything worth much air time.

This is really unbelievable. Wait 'til you hear the compositional freshness. This is wicked !

BUY I T .