The Woima Collective was born from deep within the brass section of renowned German funk unit Poets Of Rhythm, as tenor sax player Johannes Schleiermacher became immersed in the rhythms and modes of African music after some excursions to Morocco, where he picked up lots of old cassettes and soaked up the very natural musical environment out there. People sittng out in the open jamming away was a far cry from his academic and classical training, and this Moroccan music seemed to flow from the heart, and he was particularly struck by the feeing of celebration and healing in gnawan trance performances, where the dance and music was so interlinked. He also met Ethiopian jazz ambassador Mulatu Astatke, who taught him more, and then he knew he had to play with other people who also loved this music and shared the same spirit and ideas.
He brought together a group of ten musicians, combining a fiery rhythm section with keys, guitar, and a five-man brass and woodwind combo. Despite some of these musicians never having played together before, after three days rehearsal and a pair of two-day sessions, the Woima Collective had laid down a heap of tracks – well-formed arrangements that make perfect starting points for their live versions. Combining the tight funk of groups like The Heliocentrics and Poets Of Rhythm with gnarly Abyssinian brass and classic Mulatu-esque organ licks, the 12 tracks on “Tezeta” breeze into Europe on the Siroccan winds. At times, the band nods to dubby workouts, and at others the brass section threaten to get free and atonal. Nevertheless “Tezeta” takes the cohesive pulse of North Africa, and fits it in a groove that will run and run for days. The Woima Collective celebrates the hypnotic beauty of Ethiopian scales and African rhythms, but creates a unique sound out of those influences, leaving lots of space for the individual band members to do their dance.
Tracklisting:
01. März
02. Credo
03. Woima
04. Gaaf
05. Puno
06. No Way But Still Walking
07. Cavemans Revenge
08. Wayna
09. The Cave
10. Gidama
11. Illusions
12. Wilder Man
The album Woima Collective “Tezeta” (Kindred Spirits) is going to be released November 5, 2010.
