Elly Roberts reviews

Tommy T: The Prester John Sessions

Distributed by
Easy Star Records

Released: January 2010

Rating: 10/10+

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Gogol man’s side project... seriously cool.

Super-bassist Thomas T Gobena aka Tommy T, is best known for his membership with multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello from the Lower East Side of New York. Much of that band’s sound emanates from their love of Gypsy music because its core members are immigrants from Eastern Europe.

It would be very easy for Mr T to keep the Gypsy faith; instead he’s gone off at a totally different tangent, with dazzling results. Ok, so some gypsy-like touchstones seep in here and there, but they’re kept to the bare minimum, found in particular on Brothers.

Keen to stamp his own mark on his debut album, he’s embraced the roots of Ethiopian folk music, bring it up to date via a fusion of dub-reggae and jazz, which it has to be said, turns out to a wonderful audio experience. It isn’t too difficult to Gobena to immerse himself into this project as he was born and raised in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Abada, so he had first hand knowledge of the nation’s musical heritage and stylings. Having scoured through his own personal old record collection, he went on to select melodies he could improvise, so here there’s an overwhelmingly delicious feel of jamming, not that it is.

In addition, he wrote his own compositions based on traditional modes, 6/8 beats called chikchika, along with other unique Ethiopian characteristics. Bringing together a band called The Abyssinian Roots Collective, they march through cool jazz-infused gems like Brothers with rolling organ splashes, intricate guitar, and dollops of brass – the later featuring heavily on most tracks. It’s a kind of Bob Marley meets The Specials, but maybe not as straightforward or commercial.

This is followed by dub-reggae injected slow beats, occasionally associated with laidback Ska, the principal feature being the snorting brass blasts – think UB40 at this point.

On a more folky angle, The Response is given a bit of glamming up by Ethiopian songbird Gigi (born Ejigayehu Shibabaw) who is arguably the country’s greatest singing export right now. She briefly pops up again later on, on the urban jazzed Eden. With most of the album being instrumental, Gobena has dug deep to make the soundscapes interesting, and that’s what he’s done on the perky multi-sonic The Eighth Wonder with several instruments competing for attention.

Stylish Dub sojourns give a lush Caribbean flavour to tracks such as Oromo Dub, Tribute To A King and Lifers , while Beyond Fasilasas is (presumably) inspired by the castle built by Fasiladas (1632-1667) and his successors. September Blues is a thrilling competition between two saxophones on what is essentially a jazz - based instrumental.

The verdict – Sensational.

Weblinks: tommytmusic.com / myspace.com/tommytonline (audio streams)

The full list of tracks included are :

1. Brothers 2. The Call 3. The Response (featuring Gigi) 4. The Eighth Wonder 5. Oromo Dub (Cushitic Dub) 6. East-West Express 7. Tribute To A King 8. Beyond Fasiladas 9. September Blues 10. Eden (featuring Gigi) 11. Lifers (Michael G Easy Star Remix featuring Eugene Hutz and Pedro Erazo) (Bonus track)

Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.

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