Adam Solomon & Tikisa

 

Review for Genesis:  African Renaissance Blues III

Adam Solomon
Genesis:   African Renaissance Blues III

On this one, the reigning boss of Afro-fusion guitar roots around in the West African contributions to the blues. Then he places those foundations in a Canadian context connecting the Niger delta with the Muskoka sands and the soukous sounds percolating just below the surface of multi-culti Toronto.

The results can be startlingly original, as on “Your Love Drives Me Crazy” and the thematic variations of “Babe Show Me You Care” push the envelope in a jazzy direction. For the most part, Solomon’s meld sounds natural, easy, breezy, as befitting its unabashedly romantic nature.

So what we have here is a feel-good acoustic blues album, with chord changes all about Delta blues and lyrics heavy on romance and summer nights.

The album opener, the soukous charged “H.E. Barack Obama” is a high stepping, proudass shout out to one Kenyan from another and should win Solomon a spot on the inaugural show in D.C.

Featuring sparkling and deft finger picking throughout, this is perfect ambient music for fighting off the January grays. And February blues too.

Lenny Stoute

Digital Journal

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Reviews for "Tree of Life (Mti wa Maisha)"

 

In Mti Wa Maisha (The Tree of Life), Professor Adam Solomon, who is featured on the Juno-award winning CD African Guitar Summit (CBC), combines the best guitar tradition of the early 1960s with modern East African big band sound from Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, and beautiful lyrics from Mombasa, to create a most original style best described as Afro-Soul Rhumba. 

Indeed, instead of running for the easy Soukous music that defined most of the 1990s, Solomon dips deep into the roots of rhumba that have nourished dance music in East and Central Africa since the early 1950s.  He deftly resurrects the flickering fiesta guitar style pioneered by Henri Bowane and elaborated by Nico Kasanda on the tracks Rehema, Shemegi and Maneno Mengi.  But for the purists who deify Kasanda as a guitar music legend, the sweet fiesta instrumental track appropriately titled Kasanda Remembered is to be savoured again and again.

However, what defines the originality of this album is Solomon’s gift as a singer-songwriter. Where he once allowed his guitar to do the singing, his voice has come ashore, weaving the threads that stitch tradition and modernity. On the tracks Mapendo, Rikata and Huyu Niliye Naye, he finds soulful melodies on the shores of the Indian Ocean among the Swahili fishermen and the traditional farmers eking a living out of the soil. Retaining the simplicity and spontaneity that characterize communal songs among the Swahili, his voice breaks free from the shackles of being one of the best guitar talents from Continental Africa. 

In Mti Wa Maisha (Tree of Life), Solomon employs his beautiful guitar style to infuse life in the roots music, touching a new vibrancy, intimacy and range never embraced in his earlier recordings.  The age of Afro-Soul Rhumba is here—dance away to your hearts’ content.

Opiyo Oloya  
Musicologist

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It is a joy to hear Adam Solomon return to the full band sound of Tikisa.  Music fans across Canada have scuffed dance floors to the sound of Adam’s guitar since the early days of the great Afronubians, and the music on this CD will have them jumping in the aisles again.  While the roots of Adam’s music run deep (no-one plays fiesta like the “Professor”), this tree has truly taken root in Canada and reflects its nurturing:  from the Ethiopian restaurants Adam played when he first arrived in Toronto, through cross-country tours, to the massive audiences he has performed in front of with African Guitar Summit and others.

Todd Fraracci
Producer, African Guitar Summit (CBC)

 

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This is the long-awaited release from one of Canada’s premiere African guitarists/songwriters, Adam Solomon and his band Tikisa.  Mti Wa Maisha (Tree of Life) is a delectable sampling of styles from the African continent.  The fruit of the tree includes classic Congolese rhumba, soukous and the fiesta style pioneered by Congolese innovator Dr. Nico, along with a fusion of various genres, some that could be described as Afrobeat/soul.  However the music is described, each genre is expertly woven into a tapestry of songs deeply rooted in Africa.  Mti Wa Maisha is guaranteed to leave you uplifted, excited and delighted. 
Patsy Stevens,
Producer, CBC

 

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Reviews of Tree of Life CD Release Party:

"Last night was great.  The music energy and vibes in the room
were fantastic.  Thanks for a great night" -- John Leeson

" Thank you for a wonderful evening of entertainment!  You put
all your heart and soul into your performances.  My friends and I
enjoyed it immensely...everything was swell: the dancing, the
door prizes, and the energy, energy, energy." -- Lynn Golding

"The music was sooo good, and the energy was amazing. I've
not enjoyed myself so much in a long time.  It was amazing to
hear and watch Tamsir, and the fun you were all having. 
It  was a fantastic evening..." -- Barbara Scantlebury

 

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