This music warps time and space. Its groove-driven mix of blues, funk, and nyahbinghi is perfect for rainy, late night drives. The music is at once familiar and new and fits nicely next to Dr. John’s Gris-Gris and Santana’s Caravanserai (it’s less weird than the former and funkier than the latter, but has the same ethereal vibe). A close cousin to this album is Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” but without the atonal freak-outs.
Essentially Dadawah (a.k.a. Ras Michael & Sons of Negus) has a simple formula: There’s a repeating bass line, hand drums, a jazzy piano, and a spacey guitar, all sitting on top of that insistent, chugging nyahbinghi beat. The final ingredient is Ras Michael’s call-to-peace chanting/singing. Each song lasts from 7 to 10 minutes and each song is over too quickly.
The hard part is finding this album. It doesn’t seem to be available on its own, but you can buy it in combination with Ras Michael’s first album, Nyahbinghi. Perhaps an even better deal is the Trojan Records Nyahbinghi box set, which feature ¾ of the Dadawah album, much of Ras Michael’s Nyahbinghi album, and a host of other great nyahbinghi tracks. I prefer hearing Dadawah all on its own. I just wish it were twice as long.
Splat Macumba 