Sangit: Achieving a balance between multiculturalism and the preservation of traditions.
OOROO
Sangit
Riverboat Records
Ooroo, the third album by the Israeli producer-composer-percussionist-multi-instrumentalist Sangit, means “gold” in the West African Bambara dialect. This is one of several featured languages, along with French, Portuguese, Hebrew, English and Spanish, contributing to the melting pot of traditions central to Sangit’s music.
Acclaimed for his rich multicultural productions, Sangit’s passion for African music and the sounds of the globe has spurred him to collaborate with a wide range of artists from different backgrounds and cultures, such as video mash-up star Kutiman (Ophir Kutiel), Ethiopian legend Mahmoud Ahmed, Afrobeat drumming pioneer Tony Allen and many others. Ooroo is Sangit’s third full-length studio album in the past four years, all featuring all-star world music artists from around the globe.
‘Tefi Cabara,’ Sangit, featuring Sadio Sidibé, from Ooroo
Across 10 tracks Sangit features some remarkable and distinguished female singers from around the world who interpret Noa Golan‘s heartfelt lyrics in their own distinctive styles. These beautiful voices are accompanied by different global percussive instruments, centered on the calabash, the large African gourd drum that underpins the layered sounds of analog keyboards and electric guitars throughout the album.
The album kicks off with “Tefi Cabara” featuring the beautiful voice of Sadio Sidibé whom Sangit discovered singing on Facebook. Hailing from the musical hotspot of Mali’s capital city Bamako, Sadio’s expressive vocals enhance the hypnotic ambience fueling the African blues-tinged arrangement complete with intense bursts of horns out of which arises a soaring trumpet solo as an earnest second voice to Sidibé.
‘Danser,’ Sangit, featuring Dobet Gnahoré, from Ooroo
African music has been a central influence on Sangit’s difficult-to-pigeon hole sound, and Ooroo sees him team up with other wonderful female voices from the African continent including Dobet Gnahoré, the Grammy Award winning singer from the Ivory Coast, on the infectious “Danser.” The lyrics speak of longing for the simplicity of village life, childhood and the comfort of dancing and prayer but the buoyant melody and captivating rhythmic pulse turn melancholy into celebration of loving times. Here Sangit plays the calabash, congas and shakers as components of a layered African pop/dancehall rhythm.
The global spanning album features the Brazilian singer Mariene de Castro, who famously performed at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics in front of the Olympic Flame before it was extinguished. The most insightful description of her spellbinding vocals come from Sangit himself: “Mariene carries the comforting words like a soft, devoted mother and her voice echoes the entire Amazon, bringing out the depth, simplicity and wonderful roundness of the Portuguese language.”
‘Ahora más cerca,’ Sangit, featuring Yasmin Levy, from Ooroo
Another highlight is the beautiful “Ahora más cerca,” which features Yasmin Levy, one of the world’s finest interpreters of Ladino music assaying the ballad about longing for an impossible love in a style both powerful and touching. Likewise, another 6/8 ballad sees Spanish singer Sheila Quero deliver a performance of heartfelt intensity on the sweet yet melancholic flamenco pop track “La Luna.” In the spirit of the tradition, Sheila sings about the search for the way back home, to who we really are and were.
Sangit’s goal for Ooroo was to achieve a balance between the musical trends of multiculturalism and the preservation of traditions. In his words, “Ooroo is a meeting between East and West, between roots and innovation, between powerful and soft, between rhythmic and touching.”
