Month: June 2011

Talking ’Bout a Nü Revolution: Les Nubians Interview

Growing up in two countries — Chad as children and France as teens — the women of Les Nubians, Hélène and Célia Faussart, were shaped by both cultures.  On their third recording, Nü Revolution their pan-African vision remains as vibrant and clear as ever. Nü Revolution embodies, both through music and lyrics, a true sense of ‘World Citizenship.’   Featuring special guests ranging from African music legend Manu Dibango to indie soul icon Eric Roberson, with South African pop stars Freshly Ground, Ghanian-American MC Blitz The Ambassador and Polish MC John Banzaï along for the ride. Les Nubians manage to make the blend of so many diverse elements seem logical and organic; it flows quite naturally from their multicultural lives. 

MundoVibe’s John C. Tripp spoke with Hélène and Célia on the Nü Revolution via telephone from their new home of Brooklyn just after their first performance ever in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.

MundoVibe: Congratulations on your third full-length recording, I’ve been absorbing it and I love it. It’s got a great message to it, it’s really uptempo, very celebratory vibe and I think it’s going to blow up for you.  So, this Nü Revolution, I want you to tell me about it because I want to be part of it.

Les Nubians: Well, Nu Revolution is a two year process to put together and Nu Revolution, why, I guess NU for “new universe” and we’re entering a new time, everything is kind of changing and no more types of frontiers because of the internet. I feel like because of the written histories we all went through, the recession crisis, all the wars and all the natural catastrophies we feel even more related to each other than ever. So, this is a new universe we’re living in. There’s finally worldwide citizenship that’s for real now.

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Latin Funk Cape Breton Style: Roots Pianist Neil Pearlman

Photo: Hannah Kligman

“There’s a clave hidden in Scottish music, if you look for it,” explains piano player, arranger, and composer Neil Pearlman. It’s a secret place where Robert Burns does the boogie woogie. And where salsa brass and Tower of Power bass sneak into the frenetic triplets of island dances.

 Pearlman has found this sweet spot. The young freethinker of a musician unleashes Scotland’s unexpected grooves and Cape Breton’s unique piano style on Coffee and the Mojo Hat (Paddledoo Music; June 5, 2011). Doffing his plaid cap for “mojo,” Pearlman gently but firmly expands on tradition, honing high-precision technique and finding uncharted rhythmic affinities.

The possibilities of the piano—Pearlman’s chosen instrument since he was four—were limited by what Pearlman humorously calls “the boom-chuck” style of most accompaniment for traditional tunes. But not on Cape Breton, Canada’s Celtic roots hotspot, with its thriving music scene and a piano style all its own.

Inspired by stride and boogie woogie, Cape Breton piano players held their own with the region’s acclaimed fiddlers at community dances. They broke out the broken octaves, setting the right hand free to hit all the burls—the traditional, fast-paced triplets—that make Scottish tunes sparkle. Pearlman fell in love with the approach, which he taught himself in his early teens by watching Cape Breton performers.

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