Customer Reviews

Serious Tam

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

 

 

When I first heard a cut from SERIOUS TAM, I told my wife that this is what the Beatles would have sounded like today had they been allowed to live and to evolve from the 1970's to the 2000's.

Curiously, the liner notes reveal that George Telek loves the music of the Beatles, and his initial stop when visiting England for the first time was at that famous Abbey Road crosshatch, where he had his photo snapped.

Each of the sixteen songs here has a hook, just as most of the Beatles' hits, and each builds a distinctive soundscape from its unique collection of instruments (including the impressive bass drumming of a pounded split log which reverbs like God's foot-taps into your living room!) and melodics, many of which involve the New Guinean snake-like weaving of a third voice among two fixed harmonies. The result is danceable, joyous, and the most compelling World Music I've heard this year.

The diversity of lyric experimentation on SERIOUS TAM makes it a CD which one can listen to again and again without getting bored, always finding a new layer while enjoying the already noticed ones.

Telek supposedly chewed betel nuts as a child, and the ensuing mystical experiences helped make him a mystical songsmith. Betel nuts or not, Telek is a superbly talented musician whose songs will bring you energy and joy. Highly recommended!

On this, Telek's second full length cd, the provactive singer with the "magic" for writing songs has produced one of the most remarkable pairings of "world" music and state of the art production made this year. Telek's voice alone mezmerizes and seduces. What moods can be found on this record. Starting off with the mysterious Midal. Continuing with the joyous chanting in Waitpela Gras and ending with the somber yet beautiful "Rirwon", Serious Tam will warm the soul. This review wouldn't be complete without mentioning the work of David Bridie. David has tried through the years to make Telek's amazing music available to the world. Now through the help of Gabriel's real world, the dream has been realized and all of us can reap the rewards. If you enjoy the more textural elements on Serious Tam, Mr. Bridie's own brillant solo album "Act of Free Choice" will also be sure to please.

"Serious Tam" is yet another excellent offering from the Real World label. If you're looking for strictly "indigenous sound," search elsewhere. However, if you're keen on instruments and songs of the South Pacific augmented by washes of guitar and treated with studio effects, this is the album for you. George Telek effectively marries the traditional music of his native Papua New Guinea with Western pop influences. The result is surprisingly warm and earthy, and the rock trappings don't detract from the beautiful harmonies and interesting acoustic percussion that make Telek unique. This album is smartly-orchestrated global pop, in the proud tradition of albums like Geoffrey Oryema's "Beat the Border."