BAKA BEYOND ( Portugal & Spain)

• country:
  United Kingdom
• style(s):
  Afro Celtic
• label:
  =
• artist submitted by:
  Roots and Rhythms

Over 12 years Baka Beyond has evolved from an album and an idea into a dynamic 7-piece band. Incorporating top musicians from Africa and the Celtic fringes of Europe, including Brittany, Cameroon, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana as well as Britain, the rhythm and energy of the different cultures combine to create a powerful and spirited live show. Their dynamic mix of song, melody and dance has been enjoyed worldwide from Brazil to Alaska, from the Outer Hebrides to the islands of Greece.

Originally inspired by the music of the Baka, hunter-gatherer Pygmies whose music is central to their lives, Baka Beyond has grown into an exhilarating multi-cultural live show. The Baka's music, which has similarities with music from many parts of the world, has been used by Baka Beyond as a backbone to fuse music from different cultures, particularly Celtic and African. For the first time all these elements are be brought together in a vibrant live performance.

Since dancer/singer Denise Rowe joined Martin Cradick and Su Hart in the rain forest in 2003, helping to build the Baka music house, the spirit of the forest has been brought into Baka Beyond shows through dance as well as music.

"It was the amazing bird-like singing or yelli that first attracted me," says Su Hart, Baka Beyond's lead singer. "The women get together before the dawn to sing, enchant the animals of the forest and ensure that the men's hunting will be successful. Song and dance are used by the Baka for healing, for rituals, for keeping the community together and also for pure fun We try to do the same in Baka Beyond."

Baka Beyond is one of the few groups who ensure that they put as much back into the culture that inspires their music as they take out. They created the charity "Global Music Exchange" to deal with royalties that were due to the Baka from the album "Spirit of the Forest" and its companion album "Heart of the Forest" and to bring these royalties back to the musicians' communities. This has led to an ongoing relationship with this Baka community involving many return trips in order to find out how best to use the funds.

"If there has to be a definition of world music, this is it" Andy Kershaw