thu 05/12/2024

Album of the Year: Sons of Kemet - Burn | reviews, news & interviews

Album of the Year: Sons of Kemet - Burn

Album of the Year: Sons of Kemet - Burn

Debut album combines explosive rhythmic and melodic power with serious exploration of African-Caribbean-New Orleans jazz nexus

Burn, by Sons of Kemet

The Sons of Kemet’s peculiar forces of two drummers, tuba and reeds have been on the road for over two years now, their performances landing on an unsuspecting crowd like a petrol bomb on seasoned timber. With the tuba playing as part of both the rhythm and horn sections, the Sons can deploy both massive rhythmic firepower and potent melodic edge.

It’s an intense and compelling sound, exploring the triangular musical dialogue between North and West Africa, the Caribbean, and New Orleans, in a musical language primed with exploding dance hooks and entwined with spiralling North African melody.

The jinking of Shabaka Hutchings’ horn and bewitching polyrhythmic chatter from the drums could only really be jazz, though there’s dub, and more, in the squelching palpitations of the tuba, which, the excellence of Hutchings and legendary drummers Seb Rochford and Tom Skinner notwithstanding, has to be the standout sound. Marshall massages from this beastly instrument a spectrum of sounds from the gentlest swooning murmur to a kind of raucous quake. It's a joy to hear the tuba liberated from the oompah band. 

Winning the MOBO jazz award in October focused attention on the music’s origins. Band leader Hutchings is named after King Shabaka, the last Nubian king of Egypt, while Kemet was the original name of black (pre-Arabic) Egypt. The track names also illuminate the group’s cultural commitments. “Inner Babylon” references Max Romeo’s reggae classic “War Ina Babylon”; “The Godfather” tips its hat to Ethiopian drummer Mulatu Astatke; while “Song For Galeano” celebrates the Uruguayan novelist Eduardo Galeano.

Despite this, a few critics have questioned whether there’s much substance beyond the pyrotechnics. A couple of the rhythmically more regular tracks, such as “Going Home” and “The Itis”, work best as dance pieces. This is still a stunningly vivid and original album, bursting with fresh ideas. What else could simultaneously provoke a rave and a panel discussion about the roots of jazz?

 
Marshall massages from his beastly tuba a spectrum of sounds from the gentlest swooning murmur to a kind of raucous quake

rating

Editor Rating: 
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters