Amanda is a Swedish vocal ensemble founded in 1981. Over the past two decades, the group has grown to some 35 musicians and incorporated theatrical elements into its stage show. The group performs music and theater from various traditions in Europe and the Americas. This disc combines contemporary Swedish choral music with traditional songs and chants from Haiti. It’s an intriguing combination, and mostly it succeeds.
Amanda is obviously a seasoned group of professional singers, and performs these pieces with great energy and skill. The production is excellent, bringing the voices right into the room with the listener. It is startling at first to hear these Afro-Caribbean songs and rhythms being sung in such bright, clear, crisp Scandinavian voices. It’s a bit like encountering snow on a tropical island — unexpected and refreshing.
The baritone and tenor voices lay down a rhythmic base for the tunes, which are often carried by the women’s soprano and alto voices. Most of the pieces begin a capella, and most of them incorporate various African percussion as the song progresses. As described in the liner notes, the music consists of “varied leading voices on a background of classical a-capella singing plus diverse instrumental accompaniment.”
The lead vocals are so clear and pure as to be almost achingly pretty at times, particularly in the many various duets. The harmonies and the tunes sometimes are surprisingly similar to Christian hymns, and the vocal arrangements play up that resemblance. Other times, particularly on the paired pieces “Papa Loko” and “Rara Papiyon,” the rhythms and soaring or whispered vocals are quite exotic and tropical.
This disc was assembled from parts of other projects recorded by Amanda in the 1990s, and it could have been sequenced in a way that would help it seem more like an integrated project. As it is, most of the first half is Haitian and most of the second half is Swedish. The contrast between the hot and rhythmic Haitian pieces and the cool and clear Swedish numbers is interesting and could have been better exploited. One piece, “En Fot I Jorden” (“One Foot in Deep Earth”) captures this duality very well, both sonically and in lyrics that include lines such as “Rain from the heaven, ice cold and dire/Heat in the deep earth set me on fire/Both have seized my soul.”
The final three tracks are slow, hypnotic, atmospheric pieces, and although they’re pretty, the effect is to lull the listener almost to sleep.
But overall, and in spite of how bizarre the concept may seem at first, Cafe Creole is an intriguing and worthwhile addition to the World Music catalog.
(CCn’C, 1999)
