SXSW 2008

The South By Southwest music, film and media festival has been on the music calendar of many Southern and Midwestern music fans for two decades, but the March convocation has grown in recent years to near overwhelming international proportions where 15,000 music industry and fans catch nearly 2000 bands over the course of four days. Global Rhythm tossed its hat in the ring this year by hosting a night of music at Austin’s Copa Bar And Grill. While the line-up shifted a bit in the last minute, the night was a resounding success both musically and attendance-wise, giving the GR-staffers a real shot of enthusiasm to bring with them as they made their way home the next day.

The night at the Copa began with a wonderful set by Senegalese kora player Boubacar Diabate and his band. Featuring Diabate as well as guitar, upright bass and drums, the quartet played a quietly hypnotic set that mesmerized the crowd. Since the first band didn’t show, Diabate played a full 90-minute set that was punctuated with thrilling kora and acoustic guitar runs, and a bit of jazzy interplay in the rhythm section, which was able to follow the leader through every twist and turn.

Cranking up the amps and the energy, Lobi Traore and Joep Pelt followed with a set that was a rocking combination of Northern Mali desert blues and African highlife pop. From the first note it was apparent that the band was there to play music for people to dance and party to. With Pelt and Traore trading lead guitar lines and vocal turns, the electric four-piece plowed through the set as if it was holed up in a rowdy Bamako bar.

After a rocking set, local heroes Joel Laviolette & Rattletree Marimba set up shop. It was a sight to see with musicians stationed at four different marimbas (wooden xylophone-like instruments). The stage was filled with instruments, but it was the bass marimba that was hard to miss – the eight-foot long instrument stood about six feet in the air and the musician had to play it with giant mallets while standing on a platform. Taking its initial inspiration from the marimba music of Zimbabwe, the group of percussionists created an ebb-and-flow, trance-like groove that the crowd responded to with more dancing.

Morocco by way of California’s Aza followed with it’s own hypnotic blend of modern Moroccan music deeply influenced by Berber music and culture of the Atlas mountains. The beats where electronically and acoustically generated with guitars, horns and a number of other stringed instruments filling out the sound. Warm call and response vocals floated over the top at times, seemingly inviting the entire crowd to join in, while at other times dense rhythms pushed songs along.  

Other highlights of the festival were many:

Spanish rapper Mala Rodriguez held herself in good stead with a smokin’ and fun half- hour set one Thursday. Rupa And The Fishes played the Copa on Friday night with a fine set even better than her New York debut. The English Beat played a gig light on convention folk but packed by locals on Friday night, sadly only Dave Wakeling is the only member left. The Slits dub-punk sounded just as good on Thursday as it did when they released their classic Cut back in 1979. Caught the Indian rock band Menwhopause on Tuesday and thought they were pretty good, and nice guys to boot. Firewater played the Bloodshot day party on Friday and made a great impression after an all-to-brief four-song set, which featured among others Boom Pam’s Uri Kinrot on lead guitar and percussionist Johnny Kalsi, who no doubt was a first musician to ever play a Bloodshot party wearing a turban. Yael Naim dazzled a small packed ballroom at The Driskill Hotel on Friday, and yes she played “New Soul” from the Apple ad. All in all, there were more than 30 bands playing classified in the world music genre and talking with the booker it sounds like it could be more in the years to come.