Dawda Jobarteh and Stefan Pasborg reunite on Live In Turku

The LP, titled Live in Turku and released on Danish label April Records, comes in at seven tracks, two short of its predecessor. Still, it offers a bottomless listening experience loaded with creative insight and wandering, sometimes resembling real-time whiteboarding, and at other times, ritual utterance. 

The project – commanding in all its ebbs and flows through folkish meditative pockets (‘Bamananyanke’), bluesy floatation (‘Communication of a Kind’), a blaring rock temperament (‘Folkman’), and regimental patterns (‘Go Daw’) – accommodates all inclinations, the loudest being inquisitiveness. 

What is the point of music like this? Well, to push the very boundaries of music itself. It goes without saying that rhythms from all corners of the world are in perpetual and evolving dialogue; the old with the new, African music customs with Western paradigms. For those seeking to deconstruct key knots or fresh footnotes to realise even the most unlikely fusions, this moment of live expression can serve as an invigorating impetus. 

Live in Turku, whose blueprint funnels emotional maneuvering, elegant plucking, in-sync syncopation and more than merely a seasoned sense of swing by two maestros channelling the ancestors as much as they optimise the philosophies of contemporary geniuses like Hendrix and Bonham , beautifully and drastically dismantle commonly held conceptions about sonic compatibility. It typifies the functionality of camaraderie and an open mind. It’s connected. It’s all connected.

Artists: Dawda Jobarteh and Stefan Pasborg
Album: Live in Turku
Label: April Records
Year: 2024