By African music includes so many varied styles that it’s an almost meaningless term to describe the actual sound. However, almost all those styles have a vibrant feel of joy and vivaciousness that transcends borders and have led to African music being at home all over the world.
On Saturday, Jan. 19, Whidbey audiences have a rare winter opportunity to hear and dance to two bands from the Northwest that have taken threads of African styles and woven them together into their own shimmering kente cloths of musical dynamism.
Whidbey Island’s own Titambe Marimba, formerly Whidbey Island Marimba, open the show at Bayview Hall for Seattle’s Maya Soleil. This is their first performance under the new name, but anyone who has seen the band’s seven massed marimbas and heard the interlocking rhythms of the music knows that dancing is bound to occur.
Titambe formed seven years ago as Whidbey Island Marimba, one of the many marimba ensembles that sprouted around the Northwest in the footsteps of the Johnny Appleseed of the marimba, Dumisani Maraire from Zimbabwe.
The new name is one of those words that has no exact meaning in English, but, as Barbara Nichols of the group explained, it roughly translates as “being in the play of life together with real close friends.” She added, “Besides the neat meaning, it also sounds good.”
Titambe Marimba play mostly the high-energy styles of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, although “Wim-o-weh,” sometimes known as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” is also a crowd pleaser. Besides the marimba, which is basically a wooden zylophone with gourd resonators, the band also features percussion and shakers and, for this show, will perform acoustically without amplification.
For devotees of aural bliss, this raises the small possibility of spacing out rather than dancing but that should only be a temporary condition as the fundamental dance energy takes hold.
Maya Soleil, with members from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Jamaica, Bangladesh and the United States, roams through a more varied collection of styles that together have come to be known as World Beat. Based on African rhythms, the music also includes elements of jazz and rock and even some electronic experimentalism. The result is another high-energy blend that promises to mercilessly propel dancers into orbit.
The group’s instrumentation includes saxophones, flutes, balafon, mbira, keyboards, Afridan and Middle Eastern drums, bells, electric bass and world drum kit.
This is Maya Soleil’s first Whidbey Island performance, but it’s already well-known on the Northwest festival circuit from performances at Bumbershoot, WOMAD, the Folklife Festival, and the Seattle Peace Concerts. They have also played at many other Seattle and Northwestern performance spaces and clubs.
The band’s CD, “Dance of the New Sun,” was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental album in the 2001 Sounds of Seattle Area Music Awards. The band’s Web site is http://mayasoleil.home.mindspring.com.
