Having shortened their name and released a new album, Afro-Trad sensation the Afro Celt Sound System will play Vicar Street on the 26th of June.
Seven years on the go and the Afro Celt Sound System continue to evolve. They're back with a new album, Seed, and have shortened their name to the Afro Celts.
The feeling is that now, after creating and playing music together for seven years they are now genuinely a band and not a sound system. What is the distinction you may ask? It is mainly a question of emphasis: the Sound System emphasised the sound itself, the samplers, beat boxes and other machines used in the process. The band on the other hand emphasises the musicians and their instruments. Music, we are lead to believe, is the meeting of musician and sound.
In keeping with this notional philosophy, Seed forgoes a lot of the artifices of Volumes 1 to 3 (the Sound System's three albums). One of those artifices was the abundant use of electronically generated sounds. When the Afro Celt Sound System started out, their blend of Mainstream and World Music with electronic beats and sounds was a new thing. It helped them find the musical identity they have today, but the time has come for them to shed that skin and move on.
Another 'artifice' was guest appearances by famous musicians and singers, from Sinead O'Connor to Robert Plant. While the band got a lot out of cooperating with artists of such high calibre, they felt that the inimitable performances of these artists limited the Afro Celts' potential to define a distinctive style for themselves.
They have not closed themselves off however; for the production of Seed, the band brought in a number of outside musicians, including Irish rock-musician Mundy, Brazilian singer Nina Miranda, Flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook and virtuoso fiddlers Martin Hayes and Eileen Ivers.
Though they have shed some of their early trappings, the Afro-Irish fusion that defined the 'Sound System through the nineties is still present. The core band-members have hardly changed: Simon Emmerson (guitars), James McNally (keyboards, piano, bodhran, bamboo flute), Iarla O Lionaird (vocals), Martin Russell (keyboards, programming & co-production), N'Faly Kouyate (vocals, kora, balafon), Myrdhin (harp), Moussa Sissokho (percussion), Johnny Kalsi (dhol drum, tabla), Mass (drum programming) and Emer Maycock (uilleann pipes).
The latest Afro-Celt evolution is a promising one: they have lost none of the vigour, dynamism or originality of their earlier work, but have defined themselves and their music more precisely, perhaps getting closer still to the essence of their unique sound.
Doors: 8.00 pm
Tickets: €28
Vicar Street
58-59 Thomas Street,
Dublin 8.
Tel.: 454 6656
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