Journey Between
Baka Beyond's Martin Cradick is an intrepid traveller whose search for common links between Northern European and West African musical traditions took him deep into the Cameroon rain forest. There he discovered the music of the Baka people and was inspired to make Spirit of the Forest and The Meeting Pool, two of the most successful and influential recordings in the global fusion genre. JOURNEY BETWEEN brings together musicians from the United Kingdom, France, Senegal and Ghana as Cradick focuses his musical view and takes a more direct approach to the magical Baka Beyond sound.
Martin Cradick's history with Hannibal Records began when Joe Boyd spotted him and didgeridoo player Graham Wiggins (aka Dr Didg) busking on Portobello Road in late 1980s London. As Outback, Cradick and Wiggins went on to make two successful records for Hannibal, Baka and Dance The Devil Away..
After the demise of Outback in 1992, Martin and his wife Su Hart journeyed to the rainforests near the Congo-Cameroon border to live among the Baka pygmies and record their music. They took with them little more than a tent, a guitar and some recording equipment, and they slept, ate and gathered as the Baka did. In an effort to learn the songs of a culture that has remained relatively untouched by the history of western civilization, Cradick spent as many hours as possible playing music with the Baka people. The recordings that resulted from Martin's journey into the rainforest were the basis of his studio project, Spirit Of The Forest and its companion album of field recordings, Heart Of The Forest: Music of the Baka Forest People of Southeast Cameroon.
At that time, Baka Beyond consisted of Cradick, Su Hart, ex-Outback violinist Paddy Le Mercier, and various Baka tribes people who played with Cradick in the forest. As time progressed, Baka Beyond evolved into an active touring unit, exploring the natural synthesis of primal and modern music in a live setting. Their next record, The Meeting Pool (HNCD 1388), was released in October 1995 and featured a wider range of musicians, ideas and styles of music with Baka rhythms still at the core.
Additions to the group included Senegalese percussionist Sagar N'Gom, keyboardist Tom Green (known for his work with The Orb), drummer Sam Pope, bassist Marcus Pinto and singer Kate (Budd) Hardy, who brought Gaelic and Swahili influences learned from her Scottish-born, Tanzanian-bred mother into the fold.
JOURNEY BETWEEN is a fitting addition to a stunning and ever-evolving series. Martin's Cornish roots and violinist Paddy Le Mercier's Breton roots heavily influence the arrangements of both Celtic and Senegalese songs, while the spirit of the Baka binds it all together into a sound that is evocative and tranquil. Baka Beyond began recording JOURNEY BETWEEN while the Ghanaian band Kakatsitsi was touring England, which enabled group members Nii Tettey Tetteh, Addoteh Richter and Annor Asanioah to lay down traditional Ghanaian rhythms as the percussive root of the album. Later Martin, Su and their son Milo traveled to Ziguinchor in southern Senegal to help finish an album for the band Kassumai. While there, this musical family recorded the African vocals for two JOURNEY BETWEEN songs: "Migrations" and "Konti."
Each song on the album explores an extraordinary range of influences. Otufo rhythms from Ghana inspire an improvisation for one track, while another track features vocals based on a Scottish waulking song. JOURNEY BETWEEN also includes a song influenced by Su's visit to the kingdom of Bhutan in the Eastern Himalayas; a traditional Jola song from Casamance in South Senegal; and a song built jointly on a Scottish air and a traditional Ghanaian rhythm. Vocals are added in Gaelic by vocalist Kate Hardy and in Senegalese by Alassane N'Gom. The album concludes its global wanderings with an Afro-Breton-Cornish hoedown.
Martin Cradick and Su Hart are intrepid world travelers whose global jaunts have inspired the beauty that is Baka Beyond. Open to sounds from seemingly disparate corners of the planet, they journey beyond even the wildest of imaginations, but it's the JOURNEY BETWEEN that lingers on.