Baka Beyond

Last night I saw the group Baka Beyond perform at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. They are a Afro-Celtic fusion group. Pretty trippy. I've really gotten into World Music in the last year and a half. I find that most of it has so much depth and history you can just hear it in the very tone of the music. It is way beyond anything that modern pop music could ever attain. Its too bad it is often considered "weird" or "strange".

The best songs had a great rhythm line and AMAZING reel riffs on the fiddle. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before. The tunes with lyrics were either Irish ballads in Irish or the "bird-singing" of the Baka Forest People from the Congo.

I think my favorite part was the fiddler. He was this old Irish (?) guy with crazy-all-over-the-place-hair, a gold earring and a bright red smoking jacket. And man could he rock that fiddle. He also played the tin whistle and the a horn of some type.

They were able to get the whole crowd dancing towards the end of the concert. It was difficult because the audience was predominately older (over 50) Jewish and white people. They were all snappily dressed in their cooridnated track suits. It was cute watching them attempt to move to the beat as instructed by the African dancer who accompanied the group.


If you're interested in hearing a few of them songs, please send me a message and I'll hook you up.

They have videos of their performance at more about their group on their website.