Afro Celt Sound System

There's a point where Ireland meets Africa and erupts in a feast of rhythm and melody. Where techno marries singing, and the kora lies down with the sampler. And that point is the music of Afro Celt Sound System. Other bands (notably Mouth Music in the early ‘90s) have attempted the fusion, but in the Afro Celts it's found full flower, particularly on their new album, Volume 2: Release.

"The live shows are getting better and better," says band founder Simon Emmerson. "We have incredible problems taking the amount of gear we have around. Every time we fly anywhere, it gets trashed. We're taking sophisticated MIDI gear and instruments like koras (which is a type of African harp), and every time we open up a flight case, something's smashed." Samsonite gorillas apart, "the payback from paying live has been more than worth it. Some of the best gigs have been the full-on rock gigs. We played after Frank Black at a festival in Holland, and they went mad."

The band - six of them, including ex-Pogue James McNally - produce a lot of sound, much of it off MIDI. "We're a real modern Sound System," Emmerson explains. "We're not playing as an acoustic world music band. We're up there with Transglobal Underground and people like that."

They're also very much a WOMAD favorite, both in the UK and now in America.

"We're not playing as an acoustic world music band."

"The first gig we did was in the Whirl-y-gig tent at WOMAD [in England]. Then we went to Spain for WOMAD there, done it in Australia and New Zealand. We've never been able to do our full show at one, but this time we're really going to try and do it."

This is music that can cross over from a world music crowd to a club crowd, and also to a college crowd, and that will definitely come across in the band's live performances.

"When we play live, it's 100% more powerful than the record. Tracks like "Big Cat" and "Riding the Wave" really push the boundaries now on stage," Emmerson says. "When I listen back to the album versions, they sound insipid."

Their US WOMAD appearance might just be the tip of the iceberg. All being well, the band could be back in the US later this year.

"If we can get the right gigs, we'll tour America this fall. But just to get the stage size, we can't play little clubs. Hopefully, if we get a good reaction, it'll happen. America is very important to us. People are more open to music, to world music and electronica and dance music. And America is very multi-cultural. We were born from an urban multi-cultural environment. When we played in New York, it was great - I think the band can help give people a defining image of the world we want to live in. That's what it was like at the Glastonbury festival. We came on after Baaba Maal, and there was a real sense that the crowd was there with us."

And, as long as their gear arrives in one piece, you'd better expect the same sense here. It's going to be a good ‘un.

Afro Celt Sound System

"We're not playing as an acoustic world music band."

Related Articles in the 'UK & Irish Aritsts' Category...