WFMU : Freedom is Freeform!

When I logged on to the FMA this morning, I really wanted to hear something happy, something that would make me feel a little more excited about starting my day. Lo and behold, after a couple of "not quite right"s, I found my tonic for today: Smokey!

I talk not of bears or Miracles here, but of Mr. Smokey Hormel, a man who needs no introduction to guitar enthusiasts. He's one of those guys whose guitar tone is pretty much recognizable out of the box; you've no doubt heard him on records by Tom Waits, Beck, Joe Strummer, Johnny Cash, and about five thousand other people. Lately, Smokey has gotten interested in Congolese dance music from the late 50s and early 60s, and that's the kind of stuff he's doing with his new outfit, Smokey's Secret Family.

Back in September of last year, Smokey's Secret Family appeared on one of WFMU's broadcasts from Barbés in Brooklyn, a series of remote broadcasts shepherded by Rob Weisberg of the Transpacific Sound Paradise program (Saturdays, 6 to 9). Here is a track from that concert, and a fine one it is.

If you like the sound of this track, the good news is that there's a full album of the stuff on the Afro Sambas label called (naturally) Smokey's Secret Family. On his Web site, Smokey Hormel has a bit about what appealed to him about doing an album of Congolese dance music: “It’s not the Highlife or Soukous sounds that became popular in the 70s... There are no big drum kits, no loud amplifiers, just wild guitars bursting through small amps afloat on a sea of hand drums and shakers, often with a very distorted bass or maybe even a tuba pulsating underneath it all. It’s more Latin than western. It’s not Funk. It's Cha Cha, Mambo and Rhumbas, and it all has that very contagious and danceable groove.” Indeed, you can hear a tuba providing a rhythmic bottom on "Banaketwe" while the conga adds the drive so integral to Latin music.

This is not Smokey's first foray into world music waters. He made two fondly received EPs of Brazilian bossa nova with Miho Hatori a few years ago under the name Smokey & Miho, and he's also recorded two albums of Brazilian-inspired music as a key member of Forro in the Dark. Both Brazilian and Congolese music are perfect settings for the tasty, reverb-laden guitar that is his specialty.

Never one to stand still, Smokey has a second group currently playing out in addition to his Secret Family. With a nod to his roots-rock past (Blasters, John Doe), his latest project Smokey's Round-up takes on Western swing. There's no recorded evidence yet, so if you want to hear what they're about, catch them when you see them playing around town, as they often do.

If you are interested in the Latin/African mash-up that is Congolese dance music, you should check out the recent reissue FRANCOphonic: Franco et Le Tpok Jazz on the Sterns label (African guitar legend Franco is covered on Smokey's Secret Family) and Bana Congo by Papa Noel and Papi Oviedo on the Tumi label (the legendary Papa Noel is also covered by Smokey). Also great is the recent release on the Honest Jon's label called The World Is Shaking: Cubanismo in the Congo, 1954-55. This is "feel good" music that will really make you feel good.