APRIL 2022 ISSUE
A sneaky peek of just some of what is in the April 2022 issue – OUT NOW!
CIYO BROWN
The quest for good music is never one dimensional. It’s a journey of discovery that embraces the past as well as the present, which is something the UK’s very own jazz-reggae pioneer, singer/guitarist Ciyo Brown, knows inside out. His latest album, Can We Pretend, is a model example of how contemporary music can draw from traditional forms without being consumed by them or diminishing the artist’s own vision.
When he released his debut album So Inviting in 1991, retailers didn’t know whether to categorise it as jazz or reggae, since it was a seamless fusion of both. This wasn’t entirely new – Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin had earlier created the jazz reggae idiom virtually single-handedly – but Ciyo also did it with style and has continued to uphold such high standards throughout his career…
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LATANYA ALBERTO
African Americans invented soul and jazz [and much more besides], as we all know. So, when they played and developed it, naturally, to our ears, it sounded distinctly African American. Subsequently, when UK musicians responded, our takes on soul and jazz typically incorporated other influences too – notably pop and European styles, of course, but also in there were Caribbean, Latin, Asian and other creative sources, often reflecting both our colonial past as well as our modern tendency not to separate new popular music by race or genre on mainstream radio. Thus, a soul guy like Omar incorporates a wide range of influence in his version of ‘soul’ – it sounds distinctively a ‘British’ thing – yet at the same time nobody would think he’s not principally a soulman inspired by those who thought of it in the first place.
And so it increasingly is with our European neighbours. LaTanya Alberto, who operates out of Amsterdam: with parents from Caraçao and Suriname, she also allows her blood and culture lines to inform her art. It’s part of what makes it uniquely beautiful.
LAURA RAIN & THE CAESARS
The city of Detroit, they say, is on the rise again. With the revitalization of long-abandoned historic landmarks, affordable housing developments, safer streetscapes, even what are being called ‘urban forests’ to look forward, local residents are hoping the post-pandemic period will see Michigan’s famous ‘Motor City’ renew and grow once more. A planned 10-year, $500 million neighbourhood relief scheme that sees billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert also spending some $15m to alleviate 20,000 homeowners from overdue property tax blight, ought to make a difference beyond the headline projects, too.
So what of the city’s creatives? Are they also encouraged by such activity? Detroit native Laura Rain certainly thinks so, if her reply to my opening enquiry about the reported renaissance is anything to go by.
“Actually, Detroit looks better now than it ever has in my entire life,” she affirms…
THE DUALERS
It’s a long way from Croydon High Street to Wembley Arena, both literally and metaphorically. It’s taken The Dualers more than 20 years to make that particular trip but on May 14 – FA Cup final day – the group rated as “Britain’s finest ska and reggae band” will be entertaining thousands of concertgoers in the venue next to the stadium with a stage act that’ll have everyone on their feet dancing and singing along. Words like ‘joyous’, ‘exciting’ and even ‘riotous’ don’t come anywhere close to describing the effect they have on their audiences: you have to be there, locked in the moment to really appreciate what they do and whilst they’re best-known for cover versions, that perception is fast changing after two albums, Back To Paradise and Palm Trees And 80 Degrees, featuring original songs.
The name ‘Dualers’ was once an exspecially good fit because there were just two of them. Brothers Si and Tyber Cranstoun busked in SE London shopping centres before [and after] forming the band…
