Sounds of Niger in West Phila.
Entrancing and rich - that was
» READ MORE: Etran Finatawa's
performance Tuesday at the Calvary Church in West Philadelphia.
In its city debut, the band from Niger performed a dozen songs in two 45-minute sets. Animated members were clad in traditional African garb, their hand-clapping, metal-shaking and gourd-thumping percussion overlaid with multilingual vocal lines and, at the center, the nimble Sahara nomad-blues electric guitar of Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla.
In the turban and flowing robes of the Tuareg tribe, Anivolla plucked out mesmerizing, trill-punctuated runs, subtly improvising, an African counterpart of John Lee Hooker's deepest, best solo work.
To appreciate Etran Finatawa - literally, "The Stars of Tradition" - some backstory helps. Etran came together in Niamey, capital of landlocked Niger, one of Africa's poorest countries. Among Niger's ethnic groups are the camel-driving Tuareg, and the Wodaabe, cattle-herders who speak the Fulfulde language. Transcending ethnic friction, the band maintains a balance of Tuareg and Wodaabe members (only five of the normal touring sextet played Tuesday night). The tunes are originals with historical touches, often imbued with an understandable melancholia when celebrating pastoral life.
Formed in 2004, EF mixes Wodaabe vocals and beats with rhythmic Tuareg singing and guitar-playing. This mix makes the group stand out in the thriving scene of predominately Tuareg guitar-wielding bands best known internationally via Tinariwen, the great Mali-based ensemble.
On Wednesday, Etran Finatawa chiefly presented tracks from its current album, Desert Crossroads. Bagui Bouga, in Wodaabe tunic, headdress with ostrich feather, and male makeup highlighted by a yellow line down the center of his face, paused from calabash-drumming to play an eerie intro solo on the odilirou flute (curiously sax-like on some notes) before the band kicked in on his "Gaynaako (The Herdsman)."
Wodaabe lead vocalist Bammo Agonla's keening nasal tenor was showcased in "Naanaanye," a song of healing. All night, his palm-clapping inspired crowd participation, and his jangling akayaure (anklet with metal rings) rang through the round church's superb acoustics. (The venue, at 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue, has quietly hosted Crossroads Music's excellent roots music series for more than five years.) World-music fusion efforts too rarely turn out this well.