1 - Ry Cooder - Can I Smoke in Here? - I, Flathead - USA - Nonesuch - 7559 799 343
2 - Kumasi Trio - Asin Asin Part 2 - Living is Hard: West African Music in Britain, 1927-29 - Ghana/London - Honest Jon's - HJRCD33
3 - Natacha Atlas - La Shou El Haki - Ana Hina - UK - World Village - 450005
4 - Warsaw Village Band - Matthew (Horn Lane Skank) - Upmixing - Poland - Jaro - 4286-2
5 - CéU - Lenda - CéU - Brazil - Six Degrees - 6557036 1129-2
6 - Ashanti Afrika Jah - Onyame - Nigeria 70 - Ghana - Strut - STRUT035CD
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Ry Cooder - I, Flathead
I wish I could like Ry Cooder’s recent solo albums more than I do. But something in his tone makes it feel like he’s mocking the working class people who populate his story songs. The problem is still there on I, Flathead, the third in his trilogy based on 1950s Los Angeles, except on ‘Can I Smoke in Here?’ where the humour works nicely and we really believe the speaker is sitting in the gloom in a bar, striking up a conversation with somebody whose features he can barely make out.

At the end of ‘Can I Smoke in Here?’ song, Ry is heard grumbling at the apparently unintended intrusion of a percussionist playing a clavé, the distinctive ‘tic-tic, tic-toc’ rhythm of Cuban music. I couldn’t resist leading into another song with a similar percussion pattern, taken from a collection recorded in London in the late 1920s by West African musicians either living in or visiting the city, now unearthed from the EMI archives by Honest Jon’s. The whole album is fascinating, and ‘Asin Asin’ by the Kumasi Trio sound timeless – you could imagine finding musicians playing the same song in the same way in a Ghanaian village today.

Natacha Atlas
The day after this show is first broadcast on the World Service, Natacha Atlas and the Mazeeka Ensemble will be heard playing four songs during my World on 3 programme on Radio 3 (23.15, Monday night, June 16, then available on Listen Again for seven days). Featuring most of the musicians who recorded the album Ana Hina, the session confirms that Natacha has finally found her forte, singing sad ballads to the accompaniment of a small orchestra. Wisely abandoning those heavy programme beats that have dominated her records till now, Natacha is finally emerging as one of the greatest UK singers of her time, bearing comparison with Adele, Amy and Duffy. Hopefully she and the ensemble (led by Harvey Brough) will get a spot on the next season of Later with Jools.

Warsaw Village Band
Most of Natacha’s previous albums were produced by Transglobal Underground, who continue to work under their own name (winners of the Club Global category at the Awards for World Music) and as remixers. On the Warsaw Village Band’s Upmixing, Transglobal’s reworking of ‘Matthew (Horn Lane Skank)’ stands out.

Having already conquered the United States, the eponymous album by CéU is belatedly issued in Europe, where it is liable to sink leaving little trace unless she comes over to support its release. It will be unfortunate if it does disappear, because it’s among the better albums of the year.
There are so many Nigerian compilations albums around at the moment, drawing from the same period (the 19070s) and featuring similar covers, there’s a danger they will get confused with each other. Just to muddle things up a bit more, Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump includes at least one track which is surely from Ghana – Ashanti Africa Jah, with ‘Onyame’.