Creole languages and culture can be loosely defined as those that have been mixed: a natural blending of influences over time to create a new hybridity. Much of this mixing has historically been a consequence of colonial oppression, and a response to unwanted and newfound circumstances. Yet through the trauma come new forms of resilience and creativity: these are the building blocks of Honest Jon’s London Is the Place for Me compilations.
Charting the recordings of West Indians and west Africans in London following the first waves of immigration to Britain after the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, the compilations provide a tantalising glimpse into changing musical cultures: Trinidadian steel bands performing at carnival, patois poetry and jazz-inflected calypso. Volume 7 has a diverse mix of styles from calypso to Jamaican mento, west African palm-wine music and South American joropo. Part ethnomusicography and part mixtape, the disc’s 20 tracks make for a joyous listening experience, encompassing vocalist Louise Bennett’s patios Christmas song Bongo Man,the plaintive jazz stylings of Mississippi-born Marie Bryant, and the propulsive, clattering percussiveness of the Nigerian Union Rhythm Group.
But it is Volume 8 – a collection of recordings made by calypso king Lord Kitchener between 1948 and 1962, when he returned to Trinidad from London – that is the highlight of the series. Kitchener arrived on the Windrush and wrote the song that gives this compilation series its title, which became the anthem to immigrant assimilation. His 24-track disc includes lesser known yet no less exuberant numbers, such as No More Taxi, Alfonso in Town and Life Begins at Forty.
Beneath the effervescence of the instrumentation and his sprightly delivery is a longing for a sense of home. Listening to this music now, in the context of the continued mistreatment of the Windrush generation, gives it an added poignancy. It is clear that this creolisation, this mixing of culture, is still not truly valued. Yet without it, cultures stagnate and we would lose the rich offerings on show in this fantastic compilation.
Also out this month
Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti delivers a subdued neoclassical debut, Pies Sobre la Tierra. Using just her own cello playing, stretched and twisted through electronic filters, Fratti creates a convincing soundscape that is at turns cinematic in its scope (El Sol Sigue) and ambiently eerie (Ignora). Yellow Magic Orchestra collaborator Akiko Yano also reissues her 1980 double album Gohan Ga Dekitayo. Fizzing synth-pop abounds, with Yano’s undulating arrangement of the YMO classic Tong Poo a clear highlight.
Pan-African collective Les Amazones d’Afrique release their second LP, Amazones Power, enlisting a roster of some of the continent’s most exciting female talent, such as Malian rapper Ami Yerewolo and vocalist Niariu, for 12 tracks of incisive, groove-heavy protest music tackling issues ranging from FGM to forced marriage.
