(Concert Review) Oliver Mtukudzi, Club Helsinki Hudson, 3.7.14

Oliver Mtukudzi (photo Sabina Curti)

Oliver Mtukudzi (photo Sabina Curti)

Oliver Mtukudzi and the Black Spirits
Club Helsinki Hudson
Friday, March 7, 2014
Review by Seth Rogovoy
Photography by Sabina Curti

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – With the aid of his topnotch band, the Black Spirits, Oliver Mtukudzi spun his hypnotic web of African funk, folk and rock at Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday night, keeping a crowded dance floor packed with revelers and infected the rest of the place with his compelling stage presence and inerrant groove music.

Mtukudzi’s brand of Afropop – commonly called “Tuku” music, after his own nickname – is immediately familiar to anyone with ears and a beating heart. It is not that far from American rock and funk, and indeed, it has long served a give-and-take function with likeminded Anglo-American rockers, including Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Sting, Bonnie Raitt and others who have been inspired by Tuku’s hard-hitting appeal.

Oliver Mtukudzi (photo Sabina Curti)

Oliver Mtukudzi (photo Sabina Curti)

The music is powered by minimalist bass lines that make every note count, doubling the impact of the syncopated beat. Time signatures are “irregular” to ears accustomed to simple 2/4 and 4/4 rock rhythms, yet circle around in lengthy jams that never grow tired. Atop the rhythms, guitarists spit out jangly, circular arpeggios that mimic the sounds of African hand instruments and chant.

Mtukudzi boasts a soulful, burnished tone in a voice distinctly his own, needing no translation from the Shona language in which he sings. His fellow instrumentalists also harmonized with him, three and sometimes four parts, lending a communal feeling to the songs appropriate to their urging listeners to dance.

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