The ‘Family’ comprises London-born Jack Yglesias, one time member of psychedelic free jazz collective The Heliocentrics and Quantic collaborator, his Venezuelan singer wife Luzmira Zerpa and half-Ghanaian, half-Nigerian percussionist Kwame Crentsil.
This is their debut album on Soundway Records, a Gilles Peterson favourite whose stellar rosta of artists includes Bomba Estéreo, Batida and Chico Mann. Family Atlantica fit right into the Soundway ethos of bringing a new angle to the tired and sometimes feared ‘World Music’ tag by taking traditional rhythms and blending it with a more contemporary approach.
With twenty tracks, Family Atlantica isn’t doing this by halves. The album feels like the road trip of a lifetime, one in which you’re in the passenger seat of a dusty old chiva driving across continents and time zones. The window’s down, the warm wind whips your hair, and the rich music of each place pours into your ears as the record progresses. The rhythm is what unites these three lands, a dialogue between the old and the new worlds. Mambos, tonadas and temengengues are exchanged, remoulded and exchanged once again, becoming richer and more embedded in the three cultures with every turn.
Album opener ‘Fly Through the Lightening To Speak With The Sun’ is an energetic rallying cry and sets the tone for the metaphysical, geography-defying ideas in the tracks that follow.
‘Manicero’ is their beautiful version of the son cubano classic of the same name, with Luzmira’s infectious laugh opening the track before it becomes a showcase for her incredible vocal dexterity set against flutes, handclaps and drums.
‘El Apamate’ is a brilliant slow burner of a track destined to become a classic, all electric guitars and jangly harp, and when she sings ‘semillas de la misma flor’ (seeds of the same flower) you really believe in the unifying power of their music.
Family Atlantica have a number of live dates coming up around the capital over the next few months, so be sure not to miss the chance of catching a ray of their inimitable blast of sunshine sounds and colours!
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