the hum / By Bob Doran

Puzzle Pieces

Toubab Krewe melds West Africa and North Carolina

(April 10, 2008)  There’s a certain fusion of ancient and modern in the music of Toubab Krewe that grabbed me instantly. At first listen you might think it’s an African band, perhaps brothers to the electric Saharan desert blues of Tinariwen — and they are — but Toubab Krewe is from Asheville, N.C., and their musical merger comes from the opposite direction.

At the center of the band are two old friends, guitarist Drew Heller and Justin Perkins, who started out as a drummer but now plays traditional African instruments like the kora and the ngoni.

Toubab Krewe. Submitted photo.

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“Justin and I grew up together in Asheville,” said Drew, calling from Telluride where the band was about to play. “We’ve been playing music together since we were little kids.” From 5th grade to middle school they played “Zeppelin, Hendrix and the surf-rock sort of thing,” then in high school, “the interest in the West African side of things began, in full earnest.” Hanging out with a local drum builder, they played traditional African rhythms at drum gatherings. In college they formed Common Ground, a drum and dance troupe, and eventually spent whole summers in Guinea and Ivory Coast.

“Another important piece in the puzzle,” says Drew, “we were also listening to a lot of traditional old time music: fiddle tunes and banjo tunes. My parents were into that and had sessions and old time music potlucks … by middle school I’d taken up the fiddle and claw hammer banjo. I think that energy and aesthetic translates into what we do. When we made it to West Africa for the first time in 1999, and started getting into the traditional music there, there was this solid connection. We didn’t speak the language at all at that point, but we connected through music.”

Putting it all together, they recorded an eponymous album, mostly using traditional African songs as a launch pad, but adding an electric-American vibe. As Drew explained, “A lot of the tunes — ‘Djarabi,’ for example — come from a family of tunes. There are a lot of songs with a similar accompaniment. A different chorus might be sung depending on who the artist is.”

In a way it’s not much different from a blues tune, where the lyrics change, or a trad fiddle tune, where you have a basic chord structure and pattern. “There are all these variations on the same song. What we’re doing is changing it and adding our American influences, the music we grew up with. We keep the titles to point to source material. It’s definitely ‘Djarabi.’” (For more of our interview check ncjournal.wordpress.com.)

This week Toubab Krewe is heading for the West Coast and will play at Humboldt Brews on Tuesday, April 15. Added bonus: The Arcata gig is one of a short string of shows with fiddler Rayna Gellert from Uncle Earl joining them, reinforcing that particular piece of the puzzle. The world-beat vocal ensemble AkaBella opens the show. (Catch them Saturday at Muddy’s Hot Cup along with a solo set by with Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir director Jaese Lecuyer.)

The wild and crazy Eric McFadden Trio is back, this time plus one, with Eric McF ripping up guitars, James Whiton on amplified double bass, Jeff Cohen on drums, plus special guest Bernie Worrell from Funkadelic, Talking Heads, etc. on keyboards. That’s Thursday at the Red Fox. Friday the Fox has Zepperella, the all-woman tribute to Led Zeppelin.

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