Under Ubi's Tree

Ubi Zawose is an old bloke who sits under a tree in Africa, probably one of millions of old blokes who sit under trees all over that continent; a little like the old bloke from Barnsley who sits in the pub feeding his whippet beer from an ashtray.
 
Hukwe Zawose son of Ubi; does not sit under a tree in Africa or feed beer to a whippet in Barnsley. Hukwe Zawose is dead; he shared the fate of the hundreds of thousands of African who die from HIV related illnesses every year.
 
Hukwe’s last album was ‘Assembly’ collaboration with Michael Brook and is terrific. Hukwe’s death is no more of a tragedy because he was a brilliant musician and singer but what it does do is exemplify the waste of talent and resources buried beneath the soil of Africa every year by AIDS and HIV.
Apparently Hukwe’s style is categorised as ‘World Music’ a property which gives western musicians carte blanche to bugger around with the music of Africa in general and Tanzania (specifically) in this particular instance.
 
I have to say this was my initial worry before listening to this album as Thompson is an Australian albeit a musician who new and respected Hukwe. I have an innate distrust of Australian ‘culture’, (if that is not an oxymoron). Let’s face it, the only Australian Culture (apart from that of the original inhabitants) is something that grows between your toes in the Outback.
 
They come over here, working in our bars, hanging around Kings Cross in their camper vans, winning gracelessly at cricket, their most notable contribution to music being Kylie Minogue and ‘Men Without Hats’.
 
Whilst we are on the subject and not totally unrelated to this album, food! Australian food! Australian Cuisine sneaks into our restaurants disguised as Pacific Rim or Fusion. Why would you want to eat anything referenced as coming from a ‘Rim’? And ‘Fusion’, ‘Black Pudding Tempura’ how does that work? At least the Americans have no pretension to anything but cooking arse larding crap and don’t attempt to disguise it.
 
Being familiar with Hukwe Zawose and his fate, having one of his albums; I had the initial suspicion that Thompson would produce a musical version of ‘Gorillas on the Bondi’ and Rolf Harris does appear to make a brief panting appearance in track 2.
 
However this is what can only be described as a beautiful, soulful album, Hukwe Zawose would have been proud (I think). Track 3 gives me goose bumps and I feel another presence when I listen to it. 　
　
There is no real point in listing all the tracks on the album and waffling on about every nuance and homage to Zawose. Thompson is not only ‘Contravening [a] musical frontier’ as per the official blurb:
http://www.thenaimlabel.co.uk/artists/thomson_cd114.htm
 
He is transcending a western predilection for cultural theft that makes the rampages of the ‘Borg Collective’ look like a neighbour come to borrow a cup of sugar.
 
Thompson sounds like no one else his music drags you into a serene introspection, the production and sound quality is superb.
 
This is truly ‘World Music’ in its real sense and apologies to Mr Thompson for my initial cynicism.
 
Andy Jones

PS I love Australians, some of my best friends are Australian (or they would be if I knew any).