tesseract's Full Review: Music Rough Guides: Off the Beaten Track
Who would have thought you could travel from Ethiopia to Switzerland to China and back for only $3.99? Certainly not me, and I could hardly believe my good luck when I spotted this gem in Barnes & Noble for a bargain price. The entire album consists of tracks pulled from other Rough Guide albums, which may explain the bargain price. No matter, though—unless you already have an extensive collection of Rough Guide albums, this disc will be full of new and interesting music.
The Rough Guide Story
If you’re familiar with the Rough Guide music series, then you already know that Rough Guide, in addition to publishing a series of acclaimed travel guides, also brings the world to you with their far-reaching series of world music compilations, released jointly with the World Music Network. Rough Guide published their first book about world music in 1994, and in the process of launching the book for publication, it didn’t take long for them to figure out that a book about world music would be better if it included some actual music. Phil Stanton, then running a small company called Riverboat Records, was already on a mission to bring exotic music from around the world to large western markets. They joined forces, and thus the Rough Guide to World Music was born. Both book and CD were an immediate success, and the Rough Guide music series took off. The Rough Guide music catalogue now numbers in the scores, if not hundreds, of albums, covering specific geographic and geo-cultural areas such as France, Afro-Peru, and the Sahara, as well as musical genres such as Klezmer, Gypsy Swing, and Ska, and it even includes albums dedicated to specific influential artists such as Manu Dibango, Tito Puente, and Ravi Shankar.
Off The Beaten Track
Off the Beaten Track is an eclectic collection of songs from around the world that celebrates the diversity of world music perhaps more than any other album Rough Guide has published. In compiling the album, Stanton took the opportunity to collect music from smaller and more remote locations. Off the Beaten Track takes the listener on a whirlwind tour of the world, hitting so many different countries and musical styles your head will spin. However, Stanton keeps it from grossly exceeding the scope of what 16 tracks can comfortably cover by keeping the focus largely on the continents surrounding the Indian Ocean, with a few hits in Europe and a couple in South America. Nevertheless, that's still a pretty huge chunk of real estate. It’s a musical carnival that includes traditional Sudanese vocals by “the Norah Jones of North Africa,” the infectious R&B-style beats typical of modern Kenyan pop, the light-hearted island grooves of Madagascar, gypsy swing in the style of Django Reinhardt, a French cafe singer backed by slide guitar, rap from Tajikistan, Mongolian folk music, the chamame musical style of Argentina, and more. While it may seem a hodgepodge of nations and musical styles at first, the geographical progression of tracks around the world is meant to present a sort of musical evolution that helps the listener hear and comprehend the connections in the roots of music styles around the world. Although not every track will appeal to everyone, its very diversity means there’s something here that nearly everyone can enjoy. I personally like nearly all of them. I think one of my favorite things about this album is that listening to it, you realize that when people are singing, language barriers don’t matter anymore. The language of music is truly universal.
High (and Low) Points
Swingingest Track: “Ene Negn Bay Manesh” by Ethiopian crooner Girma Beyene. Girma’s smooth, seductive voice is backed up by a brash, hip-swinging horn line. This track opens the album in fabulous style and quickly draws the listener in.
Happiest Track: “Era” by Madagascar ensemble Vakoka. There’s something about living on a tropical island that just produces the world’s most carefree, happy, fun music. Whether it’s Jamaica, Hawaii, or Madagascar, it all seems to have a certain infectious “I’m glad to be here” lilt, and “Era” is no exception, even though it carries some more melancholy undertones.
Oddest Juxtaposition of Styles: “Az Ghami Tu” by Novobar & Shams Group. In this number, a traditional Tajikistani folk song is given a radically updated treatment and turned into an electronica-rap piece. While the original folk tune is still recognizable underneath the synthesizers and rap vocals, I doubt the village elders would approve. As crazy as it sounds, the result is strangely catchy and fun. It's also the only track featuring English lyrics.
Most Captivating Vocal Performance: "Preiere" by Laurence Revey. Don't be fooled by the name; the song is sung by a woman. She's backed by sparse but powerful percussion, and her high, clear voice and bold presence remind me a little of Sinead O'Connor. If you think that's an insult, then forget I said it. An interesting factoid is that the song is sung in Patois, an ancient Gallo-Romanic dialect spoken only in a few small regions in the border area of France, Italy, and Switzerland. (I suspect this is actually a bit of misinformation on the part of the liner notes, since I can't find any record of a patois, or non-standard dialect, spoken in that region that is actually called "Patois." I would guess she is most likely singing in a dialect known as Savoyard.) In fact, I liked the tune so much that after replaying it about 6 times, I had to go look up her website at www.revey.com.
Most Unusual Track: “An Elephant’s Swan Song” by the Thai Elephant Orchestra. Yes, it’s literally an orchestra of elephants playing enormous wooden xylophones, and according to Stanton, it’s the only track anywhere in the Rough Guide lexicon played entirely by non-humans. While some people might not consider the odd assortment of booming, clanking and banging to be “music,” there’s a definite rhythm to it, and it’s eerily hypnotic.
My Favorite Track: It's hard to choose, because there are so many good ones! Although several of the tunes I already mentioned get high marks, I think my favorite is "Rhythmes Gitans" by Patrick Saussios & Alma Sinti, an utterly charming example of gypsy swing guitar accompanied by accordion.
My Least Favorite Track: While I like nearly everything on the album, I'm not crazy about "Silaihuar," a Mongolian folk tune by Urna. I just can't get used to the Asian style of singing (also common in Middle Eastern and North African music) in which the singer carries each phrase several beats after a Western ear thinks it should have ended.
The enhanced CD also contains an interesting interview with compiler and World Music Network co-founder Phil Stanton, in which he discusses the history of the series, the concept behind the album, and a bit about each track with a little about the artist and how the track was selected. There’s also a link to the Rough Guide radio show, and if $3.99 is too much to shell out for a taste of world music, you can easily catch the monthly radio show free at www.worldmusic.net. If what I heard of this month’s show is any indication, what you can hear for free is a showcase of some of their best music and well worth a listen. While you’re there, you can also listen to a 30-second sample from each of the Rough Guide albums.
The Bottom Line: Even if you’ve never listened to “world music” before, you should definitely grab Off the Beaten Track and give it a chance. At $3.99 for an hour of education in the musical culture of the world, you can’t go wrong.
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