Afro Celt Sound System

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Afro Celt Sound System
Afro Celt Sound System at TFF.Rudolstadt 2010. From left to right. To the right: Johnny Kalsi, Simon Emmerson, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Ian Markin, N´Faly Kouyate, Emer Maycock, James McNally, Moussa Sissokho
Afro Celt Sound System at TFF.Rudolstadt 2010. From left to right. To the right: Johnny Kalsi, Simon Emmerson, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Ian Markin, N´Faly Kouyate, Emer Maycock, James McNally, Moussa Sissokho
General information
Genre (s) Electronic pop music , world music , Irish folk fusion, Afrobeat
founding 1995
Website http://www.afroceltsoundsystem.org.uk/
Current occupation
Guitar, Irish bouzouki , cister , producer
 Simon Emmerson
Johnny Kalsi
N'Faly Kouyate
Djembé , tambourine
 Moussa Sissokho
Flute, tin whistle , bagpipes, guitar, vocals
 Griogair Labhruidh
Ronan Browne
Flute, bagpipes
 Emer Maycock
Uillean Pipes , bass flute
 Davy Spillane
former members
Bodhrán , accordion
 James McNally
Keyboard, programming, producer
 Martin Russell
Vocals, flute
 Iarla O Lionard

Afro Celt Sound System is a group of musicians who combine electronic pop music with traditional Irish folk and West African music. The formation was founded in 1995 by producer and guitarist Simon Emmerson and lives from the collaboration of numerous guest musicians. The band is also known by the acronyms ACSS or Afrocelts .

Five of the group's albums were distributed through Peter Gabriel's record label , Real World Records . ACSS represents the label's most commercially successful project after the recordings by Peter Gabriel himself. Since 1995 the formation has taken part in WOMAD festivals around the world several times .

In 2015, Emmerson announced his departure from the group during an ongoing tour, which in fact led to a separation of the band. At times two different formations appeared under the name Afro Celt Sound System . As of 2016, only Emmerson's group has been operating under this name, which is now trademarked in the UK.

Band history

In 1991 Simon Emmerson produced some tracks for an album by the Senegalese pop star Baaba Maal . Emmerson was deeply touched by the resemblance of a particular African melody to a traditional Irish Air. On his return to London, Irish musician Davy Spillane told him about the legend that Celtic nomads lived in Africa or India before they migrated to Western Europe. Even without checking the veracity of this story, Emmerson was fascinated by the musical affinity of these far-flung regions.

In a surprisingly successful experiment, Emmerson brought two members of Baaba Maal's band together with traditional Irish musicians in 1995. Although the musicians could not communicate in a common language, they recorded a complete album within a week at Real World Studios , which was released in 1996 under the name Volume 1: Sound Magic . With this, “Afro Celt Sound System” was born, which initially functioned as a project band with a changing composition, before a core group of musicians working together on a permanent basis could be identified over time.

While working on the second album, the 27-year-old keyboardist Jo Bruce, the son of Cream bassist Jack Bruce , died of an asthma attack. Bruce was at the core of the group, and his death so disturbed the band that work on the album was interrupted. In a newspaper interview in 1999, James McNally reported that Irish musician Sinéad O'Connor had helped the band overcome the shock. The song release worked out with her in the studio occupied the band so much that it finally became the title of the album, which was released in 1999.

In 2000 the group was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best World Music" category. At that time the band consisted of eight members from six countries (England, Senegal, Guinea, Ireland, France and Kenya) and drew their self-image from the ability to bring people of different origins together as well as to combine different musical styles.

In 2001, the third album Volume 3: Further in Time was released, which reached the top of the Billboard charts for world music. In addition to guest appearances by Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant , African influences were emphasized more strongly. The single "When You're Falling" with the vocals of Peter Gabriel became a radio hit in the USA.

In 2003 the band changed their name to the more manageable “Afrocelts” when their fourth album Seed was released , but soon found this a mistake due to the irritation of the fans and returned to the longer but well-established name. In the following years Pod was created , a compilation of newly mixed songs from the first four albums, as well as the fifth studio album Anatomic .

Anatomic was presented on tour in 2006 and 2007, after which the band took a break to allow solo projects for individual members, including The Imagined Village , where Simon Emmerson and Johnny Kalsi participated. In 2010 the double album "Capture - Afro Celt Sound System 1995-2010", produced by Martin Russell and James McNally, was released with newly mastered best-of recordings. This triggered a new tour to promote the review published by Real World Records. The album Born , announced in 2014, has not yet been released due to the separation of the band from Emmerson.

separation

In the middle of a concert series in 2015, Simon Emmerson announced that he was leaving the band and that his colleagues should look for a replacement for him to play the rest of the tour. So it happened that, to the confusion of the fans, two formations with the name Afro Celt Sound System existed at the beginning of 2016 , because Emmerson had signed a contract with the band members Johnny Kalsi and N'Faly Kouyaté, which the group around James McNally signed and Martin Russell did not want to join.

The split was made public on the band's website in January 2016. The dispute was officially resolved on December 21, 2016 with a publication on the band's Facebook page: "Simon Emmerson, James McNally and Martin Russell hereby announce that they have happily resolved their disagreements and have found a friendly settlement to their dispute to end. McNally, Russell and Emmerson have agreed that Emmerson will operate as the Afro Celt Sound System in the future , while McNally and Russell will continue to operate under a different name to be announced. McNally, Russell and Emmerson will no longer collaborate or perform together, but thankfully recognize each other's contributions to the Afro Celt Sound System over the past two decades and will continue to work with musicians belonging to the recognized Afro Celt Sound System family. "

Emmerson registered the name "Afro Celt Sound System" in the UK and brought out the album The Source with his part of the formation in 2016 , while the other half of the band has remained inactive so far.

Members

When recording for Sound Magic 1995 no distinction was made between band members and guest musicians. Over time, however, a group of musicians emerged who were considered to be the core of Afro Celt Sound System (although Volume 5: Anatomic only lists Emmerson, McNally, Ó Lionáird and Russell as regular band members). The formation was split into two bands, both of which initially operated under the name Afro Celt Sound System , began in January 2016 and was resolved in December 2016 after McNally and Russell agreed to operate under a different name in the future and Emmerson to use the “brand name “ Left to Afro Celt Sound System .

Afro Celt Sound System currently consists of the following permanent members:

The Russell / McNally version consists of:

Other musicians who have performed with Afro Celt Sound System or were involved in studio recordings are: Jimmy Mahon , Demba Barry, Babara Bangoura , Iarla Ó Lionáird , Peter Gabriel , Robert Plant , Pete Lockett , Sinéad O'Connor , Pina Kollar , Dorothee Munyaneza , Sevara Nazarkhan , Simon Massey , Jesse Cook , Martin Hayes , Eileen Ivers , Mundy , Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Ciarán Tourish from the band Altan ; Ronan Browne , Michael McGoldrick , Myrdhin , Shooglenifty , Mairead Nesbitt , Nigel Eaton , Davy Spillane , Jonas Bruce , Heather Nova , Julie Murphy and Ayub Ogada .

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
1996 Volume 1: Sound Magic UK59
silver
silver

(2 weeks)UK
1999 Volume 2: Release UK38 (4 weeks)
UK
2001 Volume 3: Further in Time UK77 (1 week)
UK
2016 The Source UK86 (1 week)
UK

More albums

  • Seed (2003)
  • Pod (remix album) (2004)
  • Anatomic (2005)
  • Capture (1995-2010) (2010) (Best-Of)

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
1997 Whirl-Y-Reel
Volume 1: Sound Magic 		UK91 (1 week)
UK
2000 Release
Volume 2: Release 		UK71 (1 week)
UK

More singles

  • 1996: Sure-As-Not
  • 1999: Inion / Riding The Waves (Remixes)
  • 2001: When You're Falling (feat. Peter Gabriel)
  • 2003: Rise Above It
  • 2016: Honey Bee
  • 2018: Flight

ACSS also recorded the background music for the PC game Magic and Mayhem , which was released in 1998.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ allmusic.com: Afro Celt Sound System , accessed on August 7, 2018
  2. ↑ Larry Katz, `` Afro Celt Sound System comes to 'Release' its sound in Hub, '' September 23, 1999, Boston Herald.
  3. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/officialafroceltsoundsystem/posts/1384670074878165 , accessed on August 8, 2018
  4. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK
  5. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK