Artist: Miriam Makeba
Album: Miriam Makeba
Year: 1960
So here's the second straight self-titled album by a female performer. The first, Joan Baez, was a familiar name to me. This one, Miriam Makeba, is entirely new.
There are some similarities between the artists. Both are performers largely working in the folk idiom, both have expressive, unique voices, both recorded versions of "House of the Rising Sun" on their self-titled albums. The big difference is that Makeba is South African and many of her songs are recorded in her native Xhosa language.
Makeba's album was nice to listen to as a curiosity. It shares some characteristics of the African pop music found on Paul Simon's Graceland, an album that I'll be listening to (for the umpteenth time) when the 1980's roll around. The production quality on this album was lacking in a major way. That kind of thing normally doesn't bother me if it's intentionally part of the aesthetic (see: Guided by Voices). I didn't feel that was the case here.
In the end, I thought the album was more novelty than anything. "The Naughty Little Flea" is a cute little song but nothing you'd need to hear twice. "One More Dance" is just weird, with a male co-vocalist laughing his way through the rather morbid lyrics. The closer "Lakutshn, Ilanga" was a nice little lullaby--of course, I couldn't understand any of the lyrics, but it's a pleasant song with pretty vocals and a good melody. Nice music overall, but only worth the listen if you want something a little exotic.
Rating: Not worth a listen
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