Sankorfa is a quartet of classically trained percussionists, all graduates of the Guildhall School of Music in London. Zands Duggan, Michael Allen, Scott Wilson and Ruth Gomez have played an impressive array of venues from the Royal Opera House to the Jazz Café and this six track self released EP reflects that kind of cultural diversity with sounds ranging from Steve Reich minimalism to hip hop grooves. Even the group’s name, an African word meaning “looking back to go forward” epitomises their approach, the group utilises percussion, the earliest and most basic form of musical expression to make a sophisticated and thoroughly contemporary musical statement.

The group launch their début recording at London’s Borderline venue on April 23rd 2010 and in many ways I regret not being able to be there. The best percussionists are all visually arresting be they great kit drummers like Bill Bruford or Sebastian Rochford, dazzling four mallet vibraphonists such as the peerless Gary Burton or the UK’s own Jim Hart, tabla masters like Zakir Hussain or exotic mavericks such as the the Brazilian Nana Vasconcelos. Then there are Flamenco cajonistas, the conga and timbale specialists of Cuban and other Latin American music, Indonesian gamelan orchestras and so on.

I’d like to see Sankorfa to really understand what they’re about. Good as this record is it can’t escape the unavoidable problem common to all solely percussive records of the loss of visual impact. With no chordal or melody instruments except, arguably, tuned percussion it’s hard to maintain the listener’s attention for any length of time without that visual stimulus. Nevertheless I’m sure that for anyone visiting the Borderline and actually seeing the group this will make a good souvenir as the listener will then have an image of the group and their music in their mind’s eye. For those of us not lucky enough to see the band live proper credits including full details of the instruments deployed would have been a good aid to the listening process. As it is the CD sleeve comes with the minimum of information.

Having said all that Sankorfa do a pretty good job of drawing the listener into their distinctive sound world. “Enough Already” makes use of plenty of the percussive devices mentioned in paragraph two. There are tablas and other hand drums, interlocking marimba and vibes, the latter sometimes hinting at the cool sophistication of Burton’s music. There are elements of Africa and Cuba too and a smattering of kit drums. It’s lively and inventive and must be a treat to see done live.

The lengthy “Inside The Oyster” has a jaunty, quirky gamelan inspired intro before shading off briefly into something more ethereal and Reich like. The mood is not sustained for long as a vigorous hip hop groove emerges slammed out on kit drums as marimba and other tuned percussion ride the beat.

Composed by Steve Falk “Great Ocean Road” initially evokes the sound of the sea and woody marimba and tinkling vibes add to the general air of serenity. However in time the group introduce a greater sense of urgency as they build up layers of interlocking rhythms. It’s all very charming and cleverly done, if perhaps a little too long.

“Kloshing” consists of long, layered tuned percussion lines over the urgent, insistent patter of snare drums. It’s the most consciously experimental piece on the album, a foray into darker, more avant garde territory than much of what has gone before and may hold some appeal for readers of Wire magazine.

“Trouble So Hard” opens with wordless, intoned vocals and maintains the dark mood established by “Kloshing”. There’s a brooding tribal feel to it, Native American rather than African I’d say and the voices pop up again throughout the track. It’s another unsettling item that seems to have it’s roots in ritual and folklore and it’s message to modern western humanity is anything but reassuring.

The closing “A OK” lightens the mood but only a little, it’s minimalist tuned percussion over insistent,percolating tabla and hand drum rhythms still makes for a strangely sombre atmosphere.

“In Between Instruments” is perhaps a reference to the part rhythmic/part melodic function of the battery of instruments Sankorfa deploy. It’s an absorbing record and one that manages to convey a considerable emotional range given the natural limitations of the instruments utilised by the group.
In simple terms it’s a record of two halves with three relatively upbeat pieces opening the EP followed by three darker, even more experimental items. On it’s own terms the record is a success and the skill of the players is undoubted but it’s self imposed limitations ensure that it’s not the kind of disc that many listeners are likely to return to on a regular basis. For all that though I’d still like to see the group live at some point as I’m sure that’s the environment where they can be enjoyed to their best effect.

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