Bako

In case we don’t know quite what to call this, those kind folks over at Norway’s EM Label have come up with ‘Ambient Afro-beat’ – a tag that will probably incense Fela fans everywhere. Still, a minute spent listening to this atmospheric collaboration between Ivorean multi-instrumentalist Kouame Sereba and the Norwegian composer, musician and synthesist Erik Wøllo and you can see what they are getting at. This sound is as far from Kuti’s hard-driving African funk as, well, Norway is from Nigeria. Aspiring to the dreamy, progressive stuff of lauded Euro-jazz label ECM, Bako blends inoffensive vocals and sophisticated arrangements into a neat organic whole.

Sereba has become a fixture of the Norwegian jazz/world scene since the release of his well received 1992 solo debut Kilimanjaro. All the compositions here are Sereba’s: the swirling, stirring ‘Ha Yah, with its bells, drones and Native American-style chants; ‘Koloyni, a spoken/sung incantation buoyed by fulsome choruses and what sounds like marimba; ‘C’est Pas Moi’, another crooning, eddying piece of easy listening. But the hand of Wøllo – who produces, arranges and plays guitar and various electronic instruments – is everywhere. In aiming for contemplation and deep, layered meaning, the Norwegian sometimes coats this in the sort of electronic syrup that gives world music (sorry, ‘Ambient Afro-beat’) a bad name. The perfect album for a chill-out room or meditation retreat, but one or two tracks will be enough for most.