Two-way cultural pollination.
Just outside the Palm Door, a steel drum band from Trinidad marched down Sixth Street in the rain Friday night. It proved the perfect prelude to a dual showcase that was “all about the waist,” as Congolese-British comedian/emcee Eddie Kadi put it.
Two-way cultural pollination was very much in evidence as one walked from the indoor African music stage to the outdoor Caribbean stage. Sets changed, but the rhythms never ceased and the connections between traditional West African sounds and its diasporic offspring were always in sharp focus.
Then again, this wasn’t the Afrobeat of Rough Guides and public radio. This was the stuff of strip malls, sometimes taking as many auto-tuned cues from KISS-FM as Fela Kuti. Yet even as a smaller world breeds a more universal mainstream, this music maintains a firm sense of place. This became apparent in live performance as the crowd sang and danced throughout.
More: The Austin Chronicles
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