V.A. : Niger Radio
Sublime Frequencies V.A. : Niger Radio (NI,2014)*°
In the series of faraway radio transmissions, here we have a collection of broadcast fragments coming from Radio Niger, the official country’s first station. Meant to unite all what happens in the country (and all its different people), the result is like a patchwork of talks, interviews with direct overdubs (in French over English), different ethnical music forms, and expressions from each ethnical group, especially via music. The quality is a bit distorted and raw like with the discovery of an old record or via the recording captured on an old radio, like a piece of audio archeology. Different languages spoken in Niger can be heard. Despite the Islamic domination and often also occupation in certain regions, the radio itself, in a rebellious way is holding a unity together like the voice and ears to all of its people, where at least an impression of every expression can be heard. The effect is that of a slightly chaotic, at times coherent patchwork of fragments with some overlapping layers of talks and hypnotic music, of ethnic origin, playing fast string guitar and violin-like instrument and lead voice with responding voices. These include the electric hypnotic guitars of Touareg music, the woman groups and singers or the vocoder-alike music with keyboard programming from Burkina Faso origin. The mix in 2/3rds of the time keeps a spontaneous flow; then it switches from one fragmentary element to the next. It gives a certain impression of a local life world, still remains a fragmentary vision. One could document its differences or keep it as a spontaneous confrontation. The compilers chose for the latter a surprise in an all too loose form. The power of the musical expressions still comes over well, in its slightly distorted still undisturbed form.
