Olivier Ker-Ourio and Danyel Waro - Sominnker

Since I've been late in reviewing Olivier Ker Ourio's latest release Siroko, I thought I'd post this review of his previous album Sominnker in the meantime. It's not easy to find, but it's definitely worth listening to. One of the harmonica albums in my collection that has endured the most listening and one of the favourite records of my four year old son... This review was written in French and originally published in a French blues magazine.

Olivier Ker-Ourio is one of a new generation of chromatic harmonica players who have started to mark the European Jazz scene of their imprint in the last few years. Of his three previous albums, two are anashamedly jazz (Central Park Nord and A Ride with the Wind) and one lies between jazz and world music (Oté l'Ancêtre). The latter was the first record in which Olivier explored his Reunion Island roots, and incidentally is also my favourite of the three. Since his latest release Sominnkér is rather in the same vein, it won?t come as a surprise that I liked it a lot.

Actually, Sominnkér isn't an Olivier Ker Ourio record so much as a collaboration between Olivier and his habitual band (Gildas Boclé‚ on double-bass, Pierre de Bethmann on piano and Franck Agulhon on drums) and maloya singer Danyel Waro. The record constitutes of about 2/3 vocal tracks sung in creole, the rest being instrumentals.

The thing that struck me upon first listening to this record is the cohesiveness of the ensemble. Of course, the jazz arrangements alter the original maloya sound some, but without betraying its essence, in particular its rhythmic core. In other words, it doesn't sound like collaboration records often do, ie. artists watering down their identity: it sounds like these guys have been playing together forever. The sleeve notes mention the existence of a documentary on this recording session, and I hope I get to see it one day, because it's pretty obvious listening to the music that there has been a true cultural exchange going on.

As soon as the first track Banm kalou banm starts, the listener is immersed in a wonderful blend of jazz fluidity and tropical exoticism. This feeling pervades the whole record. Danyel Waro's voice is superb, rather high pitched, flexible and powerful, and it's impossible for me, as a French, not to immediately get hooked by the lyrics. I don't understand creole, but the snippets of French words I do get suggest a depth and intensity that deserve more attention. Mercifully, the liner notes feature these texts not only in the original creole, but translated in French and English.

And these lyrics are as intense and poignant as anticipated. It's hard not to make parallels with blues themes: Banm kalou banm links the historical slavery endured by Reunion Island natives to the modern condition of destitution that this province, one of the poorest in France, lives through. A little later,  La météo (the weather) tells of a child crying, trapped under the remnants of a house destroyed by a tropical storm. I immediatly thought of these early blues on the floods in texas, and more generally of the themes of hardship of rural life often present in early blues. The comparison with blues is tempting, all the more since the seriousness of some of these themes is offset by a humour and derision that can only stem from fatality. Musically, maloya is very different from blues but its harmonic texture isn't that far removed, with oscillations between major and minor that definetely confer to it some shade of  blue.

The album starts at a high pace with five very strong, driven tunes, including a wonderful harmonica instrumental where Olivier's playing particularly shines. The pace slows down after that with more melancholic pieces, including Pok Pok, a beautiful duet between Olivier and Danyel, more a poem than a song really with the harmonica weaving musical phrases around the verses. One of the last tracks, Gardyin Volkan is a very lively and amusing piece where Danyel imagines a young Olivier running amidst the Reunion mountains, playing his harmonica to the volcanoes.

Overall, even though this is one of my favourite jazz harmonica records, I have to concede that the pace of the album isn't perfect. The record begins on such a high that the second half isn't quite on par with the first, even though there are a few superb songs in that second part as well. That being said, Sominnker remains a wonderful and exceptional record, one that easily sustains repeated listening.

It's musically elaborate and yet accessible, even for those who are not jazz connoisseurs. Olivier's harmonica playing is clear and beautiful without being smoochy and features the unusual phrasings that define his style, but his playing is simpler, barer than on his other recordings. Additionally, the combination of the jazz rhythm section and the reunion percussions form a superb backdrop for Danyel Waro's striking voice and powerful lyrics.

In other words, if you can find it, don't miss it !

Click here to purchase this record directly from the label (reading French is recommended...)