Don Kipper play what they call “the traditional music of north-east London”. These are the sounds they hear in the streets around Seven Sisters Road – a “cultural crossroads” that includes Jewish bakeries and Turkish barbecues – or in Dalston jazz clubs. There’s a long, wildly varied and rousing tradition of London bands reflecting the city’s musical diversity, which stretches from Transglobal Underground through to Family Atlantica and She’Koyokh, and Don Kipper are a welcome addition. Don’t be fooled by their name. This is not a novelty or comedy outfit but an impressive, inventive acoustic seven-piece who play violin, accordion, clarinet, oud, double bass and percussion, with lead vocals provided by the stately and powerful Dunja Botic. She brings Greek influences to a band who switch continually between klezmer, Middle Eastern and African styles and the music of Turkey or Macedonia, which are all reworked with a driving London edge.
Seven Sisters starts with Welcome, an eight-minute track that is addressed not just to listeners of the album but to refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean. It begins with snatches of vocals and sounds from Africa and Europe, with brooding oud and violin matched by pained and thoughtful vocals that give way to an urgent oud and bass workout and then accordion, clarinet and violin solos, in a carefully crafted piece that ebbs and flows like the sea. Elsewhere, Botic shows her vocal power in a slow, passionate treatment of Hajri Me Ta Dike, a lament written by Macedonia’s “Queen of the Gypsies” Esma Redžepova. On the exuberant Aroma, a Greek traditional tune is spiced with African influences and a gutsy rhythmic backing, while the slick, stomping Gambrinus allows each band member to take the lead. A classy, impressively original set.
Other world music picks this month
From the forests of Estonia, singer-songwriter Mari Kalkun’s Ilmamõtsan is a gently intense, compelling and emotional album, with backing provided largely by her own kannel zither and harmonium. She’s one to look out for at Womad. From Lagos, Nigeria Fuji Machine specialise in furiously percussive Islamic Yoruba street music. On Synchro Sound System & Power, lead singer Taofik Yemi Fagbenro is backed by hypnotic polyrhythms provided by eight drummers. And from Sudan, there’s a remarkable archive recording, Muslims and Christians, from the era when American funk and soul influenced idealistic singers such as Kamal Keila. Digitised from what must now be a mouldy tape collection, it sounds remarkably fresh.
