Alias:

Stephan Groth Christian Grimshei

Musician for:

Sisi kwa Sisi Egyptian Musical Club

Language:

Swahili

Genre:

Taarab Techno

Instrument:

Syntesizer Violin Drums Vocals

Biography

Record Company Kirkelig Kulturverksted has made a daring experiment: together with the Stromme Board, Norwegian Radio Programme 2 and NORAD, they have produced the disk TRANZANIA. This is a “cross over” production where the Norwegian techno group, Acid Queen (Stephan Groth and Christian Grimshei) together with the two groups, Sisi Kwa Sisi and Egyptian Musical Club from Dar Es Salaam, have modernised taarab music. The disk is part of a larger project whose main objective is to build up a Tanzanian rights organisation for musicians, CHAMUDATA.

Relevant artists:
Zuhura Swaleh

TRANZANIA  
Kirkelig Kulturverksted/1999

When Norwegian Acid Queen put their full weight behind the taarab music you find yourself in the middle of a tradition wheather you like it or not. This is true even though the disk was created with the European market in mind. The group has in principle thought like for example of Jan Garabarek and his performance with the Hillary Ensemble and they’ve taken a chance by blending two traditions that from the outset have nothing in common. In Garabarek’s case modern saxophone is set against mediaeval choir sounds; as for Acid Queen, European techno is placed against traditional, acoustic taarab. This experiment is bold. The disk’s best tracks are where they have tried to integrate(!) the two styles, as for example on the tracks “Sema” and “Yalaiti”. When it works it’s really good. On the first mentioned song we go into the east African night with hissing crickets and a taarab orchestra in the background, while the techno stuff comes sneaking in at the same rhythm as the taarab band. When the powerful voice of the Egyptian Musical Club’s vocalist begins to pour over everything something exciting and new is created that both touches and arouses, in pact with tradition. The more than seven minute track builds up a trance-like atmosphere that is so typical of much African music: a circular movement, a theme repeated often, but still with some small displacements/shifts in the rhythm, creating forward movement. Overall, this swings well the whole time. The same goes for “Yalaiti”, where the musicians have synthesized the backing on the song from the second of the two taarab groups cooperating on the disk: Sisi Kwa Sisi. “Bashraf” also works - a pure instrumental taarab sound with violin as the solo instrument - but this doesn’t quite reach its goal. In general, there is a little too much aimless technoplay about it for this listener. The tracks often begin promisingly enough, for example the song “Tranzibar”, with short stanzas in Swahili and a mix of African drums and synthesizer in the backing. But the techno drives over the taarab bit by bit and breaks up the style and mood, and one asks why taarab music has been introduced at all. Too often it’s employed as just exotic background scenery for Stephan Groth and Christian Grimshei's juggles with tangents and computers. In other words, there are many promising touches in this project. There are many fine details in the overall sound picture, but they are not followed up properly.
The production by Sigbjorn Nedland is good, and the lyrics in English and Swahili are enclosed.
“Tranzania” is, in spite of its weaknesses, a bold step forward that deserves to be followed up.

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