Words by Justin Turford
Approximately thirty miles south from where we live in Nottingham, lies Leicester (pronounced Lest-uh non-UK folk), one of the oldest cities in the UK and I suppose, our neighbour in what is called the East Midlands region. Like our own ancient city, Leicester has never managed to be championed by the music press in any sustained way unlike other (kind of) neighbouring cities such as Sheffield, Manchester or Liverpool for example, but there is a new outfit in town that is training an intrigued ear or twenty to this highly multicultural conurbation situated right in the centre of England. - Ka Safar, a thirteen piece psychedelic world jazz band whose debut album ‘Ancient Tribal Hearts’ could well see it in many ‘Best of’ lists at the end of the year.
Oh! Friends of good nature!
A thousand welcomes of great warmth from Ka Safar! And that, at a truthfully splendorous time, for hither, by crying throws comes the birthing of our own very first long playing reference, named ‘Ancient Tribal Hearts’. And beyond even that, as echoed by the Brace Heads upon the Great Iberian Deer, through her smouldering grace and benevolence, arrives our bounty, to you,dear listener!
Ancient Tribal Hearts: An age in the making - such as the great pyramid’s themselves! From the seminal morning of the first Ka Safarian sunrise, to the falling of this past Hunter's Moon, a lowly tuneful scribe burned oil those many nights at his great tablet made of precious and magical metals, forging hieroglyphic pathways where the Ka Safarians would gather, and from thence, make their unanimous and untold journeys onward, outward, inward, allward...The transit to Pangea is set!
Oh! Blessed friends!
Pray, let us now step aboard this wondrous ship!
Ka is the Spirit, and Safar is the Journey.Your devoted scribe,
Humanji Di’Pangea
There is a lot going on within this record, both musically and spiritually but the thing that stands out the most is the energy. The same source of energy that is tapped into by Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, Angel Bat Dawid, Joe Henderson, you get my drift - wild, weird, searching for the Gods energy through sound and group dynamism. Led by drummer Lee Boyd Allatson (who arranged, directed and recorded the album), Ka Safar journey across time and space, through ancient civilizations and religions, and make it sound like a good time! Never quite settling, this is a fusion of global sounds in the best possible way. ‘Samba Arabique’ is a case in point, with a tough surdo samba pulse, Arabic melodies, squalling free jazz horns, poetry in stormy motion. Album opener ‘Pyramid’ is possibly the most unmistakable example of golden period ‘spiritual jazz’; big band Arkestra meets Alice Coltrane meets Pharoah Sanders, Egyptian spirits, harps, flutes and spoken word churning and roiling. It is a serious opening statement of intent.
‘The Kotharat’ sees narrator Tony Booth quoting and Mellow Baku singing from the ancient Canaanite texts - The Hurrian Hymn (from 1400 BC!) - over a deep, occasionally explosive groove, with tablas, solo horns and violin providing the lyrical counterpoints. ‘Samsara’ loops and loops into a frenzy of noisy meditation, very Sun Ra, very trippy, very good indeed. The harp manages to sound like a kora at points and there are some real standout solo turns from the horn players before Mellow’s voice and Alan Tang’s violin brings us to a watery and relaxing stop. With lyrics from Lao Tzu’s ‘The Tao’, ‘Jikan Ma’ begins with just voice and sparse percussion and ends in a frenzy of crashing, improvised collisions of instruments and expression, not for the faint of ear. ‘Seikilos Epitaph’ is a new arrangement of the oldest surviving complete musical composition in the world (100-200AD) melded with more spoken and sung Taoist wisdom into a perfectly realised big band soul-jazz piece that could have come from Kamasi Washington’s ‘The Epic’ LP.
A remarkable record really. A ‘concept’ with heart and beauty at its core, delivered with belief, imagination and joyful energy. 10/10
BUY HERE! https://2headeddeer.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-tribal-hearts-2