Description
BABILBON is a collective formed by musicians with experience in other Bilbao bands: Josu Santamaria (Akatz), Aresan (hip-hop producer), Xixo Yantani (Cherry Boppers), DJ Ibai and Joseba Negro (Priscilla Funk, Potato) with the idea of bringing a modern twist to the old Jamaican rhythms, fusing them with dancehall and hip-hop rhythms, as well as other styles of black music, without any pretension of sounding purist. Their eponymous debut album (called 10 Beats and Riddims Basque Label) was recorded at Mamba Beltza studios in the Iturralde neighborhood of Bilbao, with the aim of thundering in all the sound-systems of the great Babylon. For the purpose, the band gives the microphone to 10 vocalists from Bilbo and "surroundings" to the delight of locals and strangers. The selection is of bells and whistles, but behind the rhythmic recitation of rhymes, puns, breaks and Jamaican riddims, there is a solid and versatile band that, adapting to the guests, builds a homogeneous sound around the Babylonian assortment of languages, dialects, accents, textures, styles, personalities, moods, cultures and subcultures. "Parazoa Dantzatzen" by Mad Muasel was the album's advance single and already gave clues as to where they headed. The lady pioneer of dancehall in Spain, riding on reggae and dancehall rhythms making rhymes on what she feels and dancing the problems and worries away with style. Suprah, from the neighborhood of Repealed, opens the album with "Mano vs. Mente" (Mind vs. Hand) and the struggles between brain and hands-action. Rap and reggae. From the neighborhood of Irala, the bilingual and viperine rapper, Xatiro, adapts himself perfectly to the Jamaican flavours in "Turista Jauna"(Mr. Tourist) showing us the B side of the postcard Bilbao and the gentrification of the old neighborhoods. The charismatic singer of the legendary AKATZ, in his incarnation as Dr. Bita Banton, over a huge composition by the Basque improviser of verses Bilintx, approaches toasting with the help of reggae breaks in "Gure Alegriya" (Our Joy). With more than a decade of career joining rap and reggae, Gatom, explains the Basque dialect of Bermeo it is necessary to give and receive love in "Maitasune Jaso Ta Emon" (Give and Take Love). Ras Reguil?n & Daka, other veterans in linking reggae and word, from Sopela propose an infectious "Renace desde Dentro" (Reborn from Inside) that invites to immediate dance and positive thoughts. Fundaci?n de Raperos At?picos de C?diz unite the south and north in "Vamosh pa'l Norte" (Let?s Go to the North), recalling their summer tours in the Basque Country in a hilarious apotheosis in a spoken ?Andalusian similar to Basque". And from neighboring Cantabria, two tremendous artists, In?s Pardo, a very fine vocalist who is a regular at Lone Ark Studios, singing "My Favourite Song" a beautiful summer Rocksteady and Priteo, a respected rapper with a long career, doing a brutal freestyle, walking rough, "Caminando Estilo Kinki" (Walking Kinki Style), gui