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October 30-November 5, 2008
buzz@boulderweekly.com
Reunited and it feels so good
Chali 2na returns to Ozomatli after the Jurassic 5 meltdown
by Dan Hinkel
Pushing the boundaries
Local group Taarka sounds like gypsy bluegrass on acid
by Dave Kirby
Reunited and it feels so good
Chali 2na returns to Ozomatli after the Jurassic 5 meltdown
by Dan Hinkel
Chali 2na didn’t endorse a presidential candidate in an interview about his upcoming reunion shows with activist salsa funk hip-hop group Ozomatli.
There will be political talk in those shows at the Fox Theatre on Nov. 1 and 2, and you should assume Ozomatli, like Boulder, is not a McCain stronghold. But 2na, the Jurassic 5 veteran and Ozomatli founding member, suggested the shows’ ethos will adhere to the big tent political platform espoused by the great 20th century Parliamentary leader George Clinton: free your mind and your ass will follow.
“Pure. High. Energy,” 2na said. “Be prepared to sweat.”
The Ozomatli-Chali 2na reunion is an opportunity built on destruction. The acrimonious disintegration of 2na’s progressive rap group, Jurassic 5, left his schedule open. 2na dropped out of Ozomatli in the late 1990s to focus on J5, a group whose inviting, danceable hip hop inducted many college sophomores into rap fandom. 2na feels in-step with Ozomatli’s black-brown Los Angeles eclecticism, but he is still adjusting to their aerobic pace. J5 demanded less dancing from the ultra tall, formerly bone-thin 2na, and the results lie beneath his shirt.
“It kept me skinny. Man, I was a slim dude,” 2na said.
2na — a bassy, thoughtful interview subject almost too gracious to be a working musician — has thought about why he spends so much of his career fronting live bands, while the average MC prefers to stand before wheels of steel, the way decreed by the God Rakim and the good Reverend Run. The turntable’s musical spectrum is limitless. A needle can play any record. But the turntable’s mechanical versatility can’t compensate for its inhumanity. 2na prefers dodging trombone slides.
“As infinite as the turntable as an instrument is, it’s almost limited to just physical shit, you know, then and there,” 2na said. “If I bump into the turntable, it can skip to a whole other part of the song.”
If you’re not into sweaty, political, Middle Eastern-Latin funk, 2na’s name is attached to other forthcoming musical curiosities. He recorded a track with Blackalicious MC Gift of Gab, DJ Z-Trip and freaky musical genius David Byrne for the increasingly mythical N.A.S.A. album, due for release in February with guest spots by Ghostface Killah, Kanye West, RZA, Tom Waits, M.I.A., Kool Keith, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Bela Bartok, your grandma, Abraham Lincoln, etc. 2na was thrilled to get a call from one half of N.A.S.A., D.J. Sam Spiegel, 2na said. He counts Byrne and the Talking Heads as musical influences. “It was really cool be able to connect with a brother.”
Then there is Chali 2na’s personal Chinese Democracy, the solo album he has worked on for years. 2na started mentioning his solo album, Fish Outta Water, in 2004. 2na says the album will issue in February or March and is a window into his personality as a performer, husband, son and father. He wants people to know that he’s not just the tall J5 guy with the space robot voice. The album’s release will be a relief, he said. “I just wanted people to know who I am.”
2na, a native of Chicago’s now-demolished Ida B. Wells housing project (known to Chicagoans as “The Ida Bees”), remains a hip-hop multimedia artist. He came up as a graffiti writer, an art vandal, on Chicago’s south side, and he still paints artwork at his California home.
2na doubts Jurassic 5 will ever reunite, so aficionados will likely have to enjoy the man in one of his other musical contexts. He recalls playing Boulder with the jamband Galactic. He said the upcoming shows will be circuses of sights, sounds and (cough, cough) smells. “These should be some crazy shows.”
But Chali 2na won’t be performing at political rallies anytime soon. Instead of listening to the opinions of celebrities regarding the upcoming election, he suggests voters make up their own minds about the presidential candidates.
“I ain’t trying to be political. I’m just trying to be me.”
On the Bill
Ozomatli and Chali 2na will perform with Deleon at the 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder,
303-443-3399.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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Pushing the boundaries
Local group Taarka sounds like gypsy bluegrass on acid
by Dave Kirby
Pull far enough back on the newgrass string band, and it comes zinging back to clip you on the shnoz. Happens every time.
The husband and wife team of David Tiller and Enion Pelta-Tiller bring their outside-the-lines quartet Taarka to The b.side on Thursday, Nov. 6, throwing down their newgrass/neo-gypsy-on-meth wares for the release of their new Frogville EP, The Human Snake, and we think shnozes will be wobbling aplenty.
Taarka’s history is braided with Tiller’s other outfit, the country-folk/alt-rock quartet ThaMuseMeant, extending back to 2001 when ThaMuseMeant was on hiatus and the pair first met and started writing and jamming together in New York. The band struck the tent and moved to Portland shortly thereafter, and by 2004 ThaMuseMeant had reconvened and both bands co-existed as dueling live affairs for a couple of years, with the Tillers playing in both.
Taarka plies a seductive, gracefully genre-straddling trade, sympathetic toward trad bluegrass figures but easily and carelessly drifting off the reservation, speaking in Middle Eastern and Romani tongues. While David Tiller’s fleet and rangy mando chops are firmly planted in the bluegrass tradition, Enion’s violin lines evoke a broader and a more varied musical pedigree, sliding lazily along yearning melody lines, conjuring Grapelli/Reinhardt café chaud, or underpinning almost drone-ish interludes lurking unexpectedly in the middle sections of prairie waltzes.
“We started the band originally with a percussion player, but the current configuration has a cellist (Daniel Plane) in place of the percussion,” explained Pelta-Tiller during a hurried interview from the road. “It’s really created a new sound for us.”
“I’ve always been interested in Middle Eastern music, gypsy music. I love bluegrass and old-timey music, and I have a huge respect for players who play it well, but I’ve been interested in other forms of music my whole life. We all listen to a huge variety of music — our bassist Troy (Robey) is a huge jazzhead, you can really hear that influence in how he plays.
“We’re just trying to push the boundaries a little.”
The band’s last full length CD, The Martian Picture Soundtrack, even featured a cover of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman,” a favored nugget of post-bop jazzers, but an unexpected gift for string bands.
“That was an arrangement I did with (fiddler) Casey Driessen. I’ve always loved that tune, and we just tried to work it for the band and kind of make it our own.
“But this record is going to be an EP. It’s just sort of our way of introducing our fans to what we’re doing right now, and giving them some fresh material.”
On the Bill:
Taarka will perform with Po' Girl at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, at The b.side Lounge, 2017 13th St., Boulder, 303-473-9463.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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