Music / Reggae
Review: Soothsayers, The Pergola
Back in the 80s the UK’s music of resistance came in two main flavours – gnarly snarly punk and apocalyptic dub-roots reggae. It was the latter that inspired saxophonist Idris Rahman and trumpeter Robin Hopcroft in the 90s when they pulled together the original Soothsayers line-up, no doubt drawn by the underlying optimism of dub’s irresistible beats. Some twenty years later the twin flames of hope and anger burn as brightly as ever in new songs like Slave, announced by Idris as “a song about billionaires exploiting us’ with Robin’s rejoinder “but it’s still a fun tune!” And so it was, the tune’s clever structure embellished with singer Rowena joining the impeccable three-part vocal harmonies, a classic Studio 1 sound driven by a thumpingly heart-lifting beat.
This was, ostensibly, a sit-down gig – there were chairs in clumps suitably spaced – but this was never going to be sit-down music and after the easy warm-up groove of Rolling (em Barra do Sahy), a souvenir of the band’s Brazilian explorations, it shifted up a gear for Rat Race. “The first lot were dancing” Robin observed, referring to the earlier session. “Only saying …” It was all that most people needed to hear and from that point on it was a stand-up-and-dance gig, albeit socially distanced.
is needed now More than ever
Fun it may have been but fun enriched by serious musicality, reflecting the musicians’ jazz credentials and the depth to which they have imbibed the music they reference. Thus the two horn players were equally adept at providing the kind of brass eloquence that distinguishes classic Jamaican tunes and also firing off rip-snorting solos, while the rhythm section of guitar, keys and drums provided a pulsing context for each number with complete discipline. The combination proved flawless on numbers like Human Nature and Love and Unity.
It wasn’t all reggae, of course, and Flying East diverted to Ethiopian scales over a 6-time beat, but there was no doubt where their heart (and that of the audience) lay, culminating in their cover of The Abyssinians’ Satta Massagana. It was a potentially audacious piece of cultural appropriation entirely vindicated by the sincerity and authenticity with which it was executed.
There is no doubt we live in troubled and troubling times, within which we deserve moments of uplift to keep up the struggle. A shot in the arm like a Soothsayers gig can be relied upon to give you the energy and good humour to keep on putting the world to rights, for which much thanks.
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