Milimo

Description

Milimo is Niwel Tsumbu's virtuosic masterpiece for solo guitar, due for release on Dublin-based label Diatribe Records Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, guitarist Niwel Tsumbu grew up on the rhythms of Congolese Soukous music and Rhumba, studying theory and improvisation with Crispin Ngoyi in Kinshasa. Since moving to Ireland in 2004, he has become a hugely in-demand performing artist, and is currently touring the world as a member of the Rhiannon Giddens band. His debut solo recording, Milimo draws on sources from Africa, Europe, and the Americas, forging a new African Classical tradition equally influenced by J.S. Bach, Paco de Lucia, Luambo Makiadi and Charlie Parker. Tsumbu's nod to the great flamenco guitarist is evident on "Gracias Paco" in the way he weaves his nylon string guitar around a motif at superhuman pace, with impossible accuracy and detail. You also sense a kinship with lone guitar mavericks such as Gary Lucas and Vini Reilly, equally brilliant masters of the fretboard. As those who have been fortunate enough to have collaborated with him readily attest, Tsumbu is one of a kind, with an unmatched understanding of how to work on his instrument. Having developed his own unique, highly-virtuosic approach to the guitar, Milimo represents a culmination of many years of work. The results are laid out like so many finely cut diamonds on Milimo. The three "Etudes", dispersed across the album, each briefer than its predecessors, culminating in the ten second "Etude III" are perfect, formal exercises in haiku-like brevity, fully establishing his classical credentials. "Rubato" has strong fragrances of flamenco, but it's as if he's turning the genre inside out, exploring and exposing its inner, skeletal structures. On the title track, he slips a piece of paper under the strings (a technique learnt from Pygmy guitar masters) and attacks his instrument with such a physical slap it's as if he is disassembling the wood and strings to free its potential. "Polyphony" is a beautiful interlude, modestly immaculate, a richly patterned miniature and a great example of his unique counterpoint technique.On works like "Afrique Moderne", he establishes his immaculate jazz credentials, whilst the melodicism of "Tears Of Joy" gushes out, crying us a river. Milimo contains one vocal track, "Masta", the album's sole arrangement of a traditional tune, with fond caress of a recurring motif, picked and unpicked with whirlwind celerity. The vocal arrangement is replete with the sort of joy that only comes from a place where music functions as respite against adversity. "The Silence Within" is the only piece not pre-composed by Tsumbu, but is instead a spontaneous composition with a distinct soundworld that emerges from a cavernous, ECMlike echo chamber, rises up, glows, then recedes into the darkness. Milimo signs off with "To Be Continued", an unmistakable statement of intent. Niwel Tsumbu is a remarkable and singular guitar talent who has conquered worlds and will conquer many more yet. Overall, showcasing Tsumbu's exploratory spirit and his encyclopedic array of diverse styles and techniques, Milimo is a rare recording of invariable beauty.