Acoustic Africa - A nice comment received
They were absolutely amazing. I have been attending
concerts for about 40 years now and never actually
followed a show around -- and I would have seen all
five of the shows in this area if I could have and
would be down in Arizona tonight if I could....
I am a big world music fan -- I have seen a lot of
wonderful shows by a lot of brilliant musicians, but
this one has shot up to the top of the list for me.
It is a perfect combination of exceptional songs, dynamic
musicianship, and engaging personalities -- the feeling
of spiritual uplift I left with can only be compared to
what I felt during performances by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
who I was lucky enough to see three times as well.
I have seen Habib before and have been a fan of his since
his first album. I also saw Vusi when he opened for
Ladysmith Black Mambazo and was thrilled by his performance.
I had not seen Dobet before -- I was instantly impressed by
her strong performance and for being able to hold her own
with -- and occasionally outshine -- the two more seasoned
performers.
The chemistry between the three of them is unlike anything
I had seen before -- they seemed like family and the warmth
they radiated made you feel as if you had made three new
friends. The pure joy they showed while watching each
others performances was evident and charming.
Please make a note of my e-mail address and let me know
what you think of the show when you see it.
I am pretty sure of one thing, though -- after you see
it you will feel a sense of regret that it is not being
recorded for DVD release. If I were anywhere near your
offices, I would be there pounding on doors from now
until the last show trying to convince someone of the
worthiness of capturing this magical experience.
I realize, of course, it is a lot more complicated that
just having someone show up with a video camera. And I
also know that business decisions need more than just a
recognition of how transitory and rare and transcendent
this moment is in time.
Do me a favor -- go find the people who decide these
things and whack them in the side of the head for me.
This moment is going to pass before you know it and
they need to wake up before it is too late.
Either the East Bay Express or the Berkeley Daily
Planet, assuming they actually run it.... Either
way, I will be happy to send you the text when I
have finished it.
The set list would be incredibly helpful -- there
are a few specific songs that I want to reference,
but I have not been able to locate the songs on any
of the CDs. (I have been able to place 17 of the
songs so far.)
I would love to have another one, if you want to
send it -- I have to confess that I bought about
15 CDs at the show, including several of that one,
to give away to friends.
I think I own just about every Putumayo release and
play them all the time at the store I work at in
Berkeley -- Moe's Books, on Telegraph Avenue. We are
all huge fans of yours and regularly direct people
across the street to Amoeba Records when they want
to buy what we are playing.
(We play such an eclectic batch of music at the store
that we are planning a "now playing at Moe's" page
for our site to highlight some of the things that
we are particularly found of or things that seem to
most frequently catch the ears of our customers.)
We attended the Berkeley, Napa, and Santa Cruz shows.
It was a good order to see them, as the venues got
smaller and more intimate as they went on -- the Rio
in Santa Cruz is probably a fifth the size of Zellerbach
in Berkeley.
All three shows are identical in content -- we'd had a
chance to talk to all the performers after all the
shows and Habib apologized to us after the third show
for not being able to add something new for us!
Acoustic Africa - 1st show @ Antwerpen (Belgium)