Miriam Makeba
Africa
Jive/Novus
Released: July,
1991
So say the liner notes, "One doesn't necessarily have to understand Ms.
Makeba's native tongue, or speak French, to comprehend the depth and scope
of this musical blend." Stop reading there; the rest is yap yap yap. This
bit is important though. You're probably not going to understand what she's
singing, but it's no big deal. Her sound and rhythm are the important parts,
she could be singing her grocery list for all I care. After lots of
listening, I've started to supply English approximations of her lyrics
("a cheek on my daughter, "poking a goose head.") It's an odd surprise
when she starts speaking English on one track, and a worse surprise when
what she's saying is a pretty horrible story. Maybe we'll skip that song
and go back to the imaginary grocery list.
Her voice tells me everything there is to know about being lithe and fluid.
Listen to tracks 11 and 12, and I dare you not to envision a tall gleaming
African woman swaying and shimmering on the veldt. I dare you not to
want to be her, at least with your hands, like butterflies in the air.
Maybe Africa doesn't have butterflies - fine, be a gazelle, be a veldt-y,
reedy plant thing, but I promise you, you will imagine yourself there in her
village, in the dry African air.
This has always been good afterglow music for me. Mind out of the gutter,
Tiger. I just mean, it makes excellent "boy do I ever feel good about this
stuff going down in my life" music. Soothing, then peppy, then sexy, she's
all over the spectrum, and it's nice.
The instruments are lovely but kept to a respectful minimum - a guitar being
plucked, something maraca-like being gently shi-shished. The spotlight is
where it should be: on Miriam. I only wish the songs were longer - it
seems that just when she's getting into a nice repetition, just when I could
almost sing along with her, she's on to another melody. A little
frustrating, but also makes me want to listen to it some more, and then a
little more. It's one of the very few albums I ever listen to more than
once in a row. It works well on repeat; each rhythm builds and flips into
the next one, like a paper chain, and the last leads into the first, and you
kind of just never want her to shut up, ever. You can tell she's smiling
when she sings. I like that.