Review Summary: The endearing beauty of Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ lives on in Africa Express’ vividly communal and electrifying rendition.
More so than any other Minimalist composition in the genre’s cannon of landmark moments, ‘In C’ has thrived with countless performances and interpretations. Even the Minimalist ‘biggies’ like Reich’s ‘Music for 18 Musicians’ or, say, Glass’ ‘Glassworks’ have not been so readily reproduced despite their singular popularity – testament to this is the lacklustre reception of Reich ’98 ‘reimagining’ of his masterpiece. It would seem these pieces initial recordings are the definitive editions of the musical ideas; this never seemed to be the case with “In C” – it can be hard to find the original Terry Riley recording online sometimes.
The reason for this is clear, In C’s compositional process is rife with the opportunity for new and varied versions of the piece: All it requires is a constant C drone and then the musicians are fit to choose from a selection of written down melodies and phrases (that all interlink) as they so choose, so performances can result in captivating and stimulating interplay between musicians.
It’s this interplay and room for infinite variation that I think has made the piece so endearing, and when I heard Damon Albarn and Brian Eno’s ‘Africa Express’ project where going to be performing their own version I was excited for good reason: no music is more communal and rich with expressive interplay between musicians than traditional African ensemble music – and the Africa Express project has been hugely impressive with successful collaborations between western musicians and emerging African musicians.
I was not disappointed; in fact the recording at once supersedes and overwhelms my expectations. The combination of minimalist principles with traditional African ensemble music is a hugely winning and glorious combination, fusing the interweaving beauty of Minimalist composition with a joyous pacing and pulse.
It’s a 40-minute piece, and in that time span nothing is wasted. From the gradual build-up in the beginning that slips into a huge sounding, world-beating and euphoric 1st quarter, featuring exceptional rhythm work and brilliantly placed vocal phrases, to its 2nd half that lurches ever steadily into darker, moodier territory – though it never departs from its consistently ecstatic momentum. There are spoken word segments and virtuosic acoustic guitar work that wraps itself up in the rhythm like a plucked whirlwind, and the yeah yeah yeah’s Nick Zinner provides some sterling electric guitar work that does wonders in accentuating the piece’s mood.
Like most great minimalism it evolves naturally and beautifully and the synchronised musical interplay between the players is startlingly good, but what sets apart from all those aforementioned In C performances is its willingness to have fun with the source material and inject a dance vibe into the piece – the first minimalist piece you can truly dance to? Maybe, well dance too without looking strange that is.
This rendition becomes a celebration of fusion and a celebration of each of the expressed style’s most endearing qualities, and the end result is something to be truly treasured by world music and minimalist aficionados alike as well as newcomers to the concepts.
Brilliant! An uplifting surge of beautiful sounds that work and weave in and out of each other in a simplistic but thoroughly inspiring process.
