Hugh Masekela – Phola – Four Quarters, FQT-CD-1807, 55:18 ***1/2 [Distr. by Koch]:
(Hugh Masekela – flugelhorn, vocals; David Klassen – drums; Denny Lalouette, Fana Zulu – bass; Rick Paliani – keys, acoustic guitar, accordion, drum programming, backing vocals; Harold Wynkwardt -electric piano, keys; Mutangwa Ntshauba, Putuma Tiso, Linda Jamisse, Sheila Maxhlungu – backing vocals; Elhadji Ngari Ndong – percussion; Erik Paliani – synth bass, bass, guitar, keys, drum programming, producer, arranger; Ezra Erasmus – electric piano, piano, keys; Ayo Solanke – tenor saxophone; Speedy Kobak: trombone; Neil Engel – trumpet; Mingas – vocals; Sinao Nhacule, Amos Mahaule, Rolando Lamussene, Amade Nharuluque – African percussion; Jimmy Dludlu – acoustic guitar; Stewart Levine – clarinet; Arthur Tshabalala: electric piano, Rhodes)
Hugh Masekela has had a stellar career, releasing 35 albums as a leader, and composing music blending friendly fusion, jazz pop, world music, Afrobeat, jazz, and other genres. As part of Masekela’s 70th birthday celebration, the South African artist combines his various talents on Phola, a nine-track recording that mixes his warm-toned flugelhorn with contemporary pop jazz, smooth Afropop, socially conscious lyrics, and an always amiable nature.
As Masekela’s liner notes illustrate, Phola is slang that means “To relax, to chill, or to hang out,” and Masekela brings that comfortable vibe to his buoyant material. Many cuts have a familiar direction sure to please old-time Masekela fans, and produced to emphasize the accessible melodies, Masekela’s affable vocals, and his convincing and mellow horn playing.
Several tunes have autobiographical characteristics, revealing intimate moments of Masekela’s life. Good-natured valentine “Ghana,” which has a lightly-25rendered South African township groove, relates how Masekela met his wife Elinam while he was looking for a place to dance, the romance that bloomed from the instant he saw her in a local club, on to marriage, subsequent domestic details, and finally the founding of a family.
Masekela shifts to childhood memories for plaintive “Sonnyboy,” an entreaty to parents everywhere to allow their children to follow their desires and not hamper sons or daughters from pursuing their dreams. Here, Masekela’s upper-register flugelhorn is pleasingly paced by Ezra Erasmus’ piano and producer Erik Paliani’s funky guitar runs.
The personal narratives on Phola are balanced by lyrics concerning conflict and existence in Africa, themes Masekela has never shied away from. Gregarious “Bring It Back Home,” which echoes the piano-guitar-flugelhorn arrangement on “Sonnyboy,” implicates politicians who abuse the people who place them in positions of power, and instead of conducting lives of self-sacrifice so communities can be helped, turn to selfish terms of domination, self-centeredness, avarice, and treachery. The pulsing “Weather,” bathed by synth bass and a percussive beat, describes the juxtaposition between combating pollution and climate change against politicians and corporations more interested with dividends and greed. Masekela’s plea for a safer world, rather than continuing the cycle of ecological devastation, is a timely commentary. Masekela’s most emotional petition comes during the dual-language “Hunger,” a call to lying bureaucrats to end their barren promises. Over a slowly simmering rhythmic bed, Masekela implores for a return to traditional values and respect for elders, and how Africans should demand freedom from corrupt leaders who hijack or have commandeered nations or regions and who have turned their backs on those who supported or elected them.
Although Phola only has fleeting reminders of Masekela’s jazz roots, instrumental “Moz” gets close to capturing Masekela’s jazzier side. The catchy number has a sweet-tempered arrangement reminiscent of Masekela’s huge 1968 hit, “Grazing in the Grass,” while also evoking Herb Alpert’s late seventies and early eighties pop jazz treatments.
Overall, Phola is a personable excursion with few musical risks. It would have been nice to hear Masekela break away from the mold, so to speak, but given his lengthy professional life and stature, he is justified for shaping the selections he has crafted for this project in the way he obviously wanted. Certainly Masekela and producer Erik Paliani should be commended for not trying to be fashionable and incorporating faddish trends that would have detracted from the set.
TrackList:
1. Mwanayu Wakula
2. Ghana
3. Bring It Back Home
4. Malungelo
5. Moz
6. Sonnyboy
7. Weather
8. The Joke of Life (Brinca De Vivre)
9. Hunger
— Doug Simpson
