Album of the Week

Gangbé Brass Band
Whendo (World Village)



If John Philip Sousa was Fela Kuti, he would feel right at home in the
Gangbé Brass Band. Its bold and joyful horns take the European brass tradition on a high-stepping tour of West African voodoo rhythms, incantatory Yoruban soul and infectious percussive shakedowns. The group hails from Benin, a once-flourishing empire that was colonized by the French in the late 1800s. Its music, which incorporates choral call-and-response and lyrics that switch between several local languages, could simply exist as an evocation of various African styles: This happy-foot sound would segue seamlessly between King Sunny Ade and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

But on Whendo, its sophomore release, the outfit is as much new world as old. There are mighty mambo beats and trombones that recall James Brown's killer horn sections, as well as up-tempo affinities with the marching brass bands of New Orleans (i.e., the bottom-end bustle of a sousaphone, lots of punchy riffage and metallic percussion that features one musician who totes a giant bell on his head).

That said, Gangbé wears its cultural heritage on its sleeve. Its name translates as "the sound of metal," a reference to the raw material of its horns, and the musicians take the stage in a riot of colorful traditional garb. The members aren't too shy about revealing their sources, either: Late Nigerian bandleader Kuti gets name-checked in a tune that deploys one of his stock arrangements as an homage. And, yes, they will take you for a ride on the "Night Train." But whether it stops in New Orleans, Havana or Lagos, nobody knows.