Maisha Re-Shape Retro Tropes At Brighton's Patterns
Thursday, May 23, 2019
It’s a Tuesday night in Brighton and an expectant crowd have assembled in Patterns nightclub to see Maisha embark on the first date of their belated album tour.
There Is A Place came out last October, since when many of the group’s own individual careers have continued to prosper, which may account for the delay in getting the band back together – in any case, they make up for lost time by launching straight into a dynamic rendition of ‘Osiris’ that builds up from its unapologetically retro ambient flute, bells and shakers intro into a pounding Afro-beat flavoured workout.
This same club played host to Gong last week, and tonight’s show seems like a natural continuation of that set of 1970s musical values, travelling into the soundworld once frequented by the likes of Gato Barbieri and Lonnie Liston Smith; all the classic tropes of cosmic groove jazz reinvigorated by the energy and commitment of this fresh-faced crew. Nubya Garcia and Shirley Tetteh are the the dynamic duo in the frontline; Nubya in her characteristic warrior stance at the mic, Shirley bobbing and weaving with the beat, they make a charismatic pair, sharing a relaxed onstage camaraderie. Garcia’s warm rounded tone and effectively economic phrasing contrast nicely with Tetteh’s stinging guitar, and they both know how to build a solo from simple beginnings into wave upon wave of intensity, riding the swell of frantically clicking and shimmering hand percussion and the pulsing gimbri like figures of Twm Dylan’s bass. There are percussion breaks aplenty, mysterioso interludes for flutes and assorted diverse ethnic textures from the suitably attired Tim Doyle, even an extended freeform bass solo linking the tunes together.
Material is played from the whole record, taken at a much higher level of intensity to everyone’s general benefit; two full-length drum solos from leader Jake Long may be a little de trop even in this free-flowing environment, accomplished as they are, but there’s a wonderfully creative Ethiopiques flavoured solo from the new keyboard player that builds into a genuinely uplifting workout before Nubya brings it back home and leaves everyone satisfied that justice has been done.
– Eddie Myer