The shaman is the bridge between worlds. The person whose soul lives on both this plane and the plane of the gods. Who delivers gifts and messages from one side of the great river to the other distant shore. Who has taken up the burden of knowledge and ritual on behalf of the community so that others can live their lives in peace, undisturbed by the mystery of the universe's twisting cosmic sands, secure in their faith that the world was made to benefit them with its bounty. At times of strife and war, the shaman must beseech the gods for relief, and hope that their prayers will be answered with something other than indifference. At present, the world, as we know it, is in such a period of such magnitudinal dislocation that it is hard to know what reprieve to even pray for.
The wizard of sound Idris Ackamoor struggled with this question greatly on his 2018 album An Angel Fell, an overtly political work that attempted to make sense of the deepening trauma emerging from climate change and the global reach of late-stage capitalism. His latest record Shaman! however, is more concerned with transcendentalism. While keeping both feet firmly planted on the dirt body of the Earth, he looks to the distant glimmer of paradise and asks how he can bring it closer to where he stands now.
Shaman! is a more narrowly
focused record in a lot of ways. But it is the shrinking of the panoramic to
the telescopic that allows it to see farther. Shaman! takes pains to examine and elucidate the personal
journey each of us must take through love and loss, family and isolation, and
mortality and what comes after. Taking the threads of each in hand to map the
interwoven paths that form the fabric of community. On this record, Ackamore is
once again joined by longtime Pyramids member Dr. Margaux Simmons on flute as
well as Bobby Cobb on guitar, and collaborator Sandra Poindexter on violin, a
caravan of prodigious talent that Ackamoor could not make this journey without.
Throughout the Shaman! you'll get tastes of the last 100 years of jazz,
from the willful and angular tribute to Cecil Taylor, titled "Theme For
Cecil," to the funk-fusion of "Vigin," and the Brazilian brazed
"Tango of Love." "When Will I See You Again?" is a subdued
guitar lead traipse of R'nB tinged spiritual jazz that honors the memory of
victims of mass violence as well as passed loved ones, and
"Salvation" is a swinging tribute to Ackamoor's ancestors.
Trust the shaman to guide you through the depths of the
heart, to find that treasure which the gods bestowed to all humankind that will
unlock the truth that will catch them in their plumptious descent and teach
them to be redeemed in each other's embrace.
Grab a copy from Strut records here.
