All songs by Christopher Hedge and Titos Sompa
Recorded at The Magic Shop
English
lyrics - Christopher Hedge
Kongolese Lyrics - Titos Sompa
Recorded and Mixed by Christopher Hedge
Produced by Christopher Hedge and Titos Sompa
Titos Sompa - Lead and Background vocals, African Drums, Kalimbas, Bells, Baliphone, Percussion
Christopher Hedge - Background vocals, Piano, Guitars, Mandolin, Banjo, Bass, Drums, Keyboards, Percussion
Skyler Jett - Lead and Background vocals
Horns by Arthur Blythe, Chico Freeman, Hamiet Bluiett, Olu Dara
Ed McClary - Drums
Jeanie Tracy - Background Vocals
Bisa Sompa - Conga - Robert Powell - Dobro (Overture)
Julian Smedley - Violin (Overture - I Know What I Want)
Ray Loeckle - Sax chorus (I Know What I Want)
Gary Brown - Bass (Overture - I Know What I Want)
Sam Pointer - Mandolin (Overture - I Know What I Want)
Joan Shaff - Vocal Chorus (Overture)
Pranesh Khan - Tabla (Trail of Tears)
Orchestration - SF Conservatory Orchestra
Trail of Tears Voices:
Mary Smedley-England Mary Hedge-America Toshi Onuki-Japan Bernard Broclawski-Yiddish
Dulce Argueles-Cuba Erika Luckettt-Portugese Cat Schlyder-Austrailia Alfredo Fernandez-Spain
Lilia Santiago-Mexico Emile Borel-France Kim Hong Seob-Korea Sukhawat Ali Khan-India
XRADZ (Julia Zdarsky)-Austria Ron Nasim-Israel
"Rings of Saturn" voice and inspiration for "Trail of Tears" - Nicholas Hedge
What people are saying about Mbongi...
ãI
want to tell you all about one particular CD that I used in the fund-drive
that got an instant, record-breaking, phenomenal response from my listeners.
It's called "Mbongi" and is put out on "The Magic Shop" label out of South
San Francisco.The song "Trail of Tears", which is about 13 minutes long,
is one of the most powerful pieces of music I have ever heard. There is
something VERY SPECIAL and unusual about the way Chris Hedge mixed this
CD. My pick for best record so far this year .ä
Sandy Miranda
Producer, "Music of the World"
KPFA, Berkeley, California
"Mbongi"
is a magical CD. I'll pitch it to my usual outlets, Wired, SF Cronicle,
Pulse, East bay Express, E!online, etc.ä
j. poet San Francisco
ãIt's
finally here! Mbongi is really as good as I hoped or even better. I'll
do special radio-show about your music 15 of June at 21.05-21.55 (Monday
evening here). For me listening of your CD is really great pleasure,there's
something I was looking for a long time.Thank You once more!ä
T›nu Timm
Radio 'Kuku'
Tallinn,Estonia
ãI
think it is a lovely album...Sandy was right about the mixing. Great professional
sound without being overproduced. Nice mix of American and African music.Your
Mbongi CD is really a hot item!ä
Judith Gennett-Operations Director
KEOS Radio
Bryan, TX
ãThank
you so much for the CD MBONGI. Truely new and unusual music, just what
I like. All morning I've been enjoying it.ä
Jana Russon
Love
your CD with Titos! It is really has a great sound! So very original!
Flash Terry
Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
The Songs (Click the title for a RealAudio sample)
Overture
Overture
The orchestra tuning, the African drums and many other elements were recorded
with a "Holophone" (the 3-D microphone used on Pink Floyd's "The Final
Cut"). It was one of three ever created by Hugo Zucherelli, the other
two were on loan to Michael Jackson and The Disney Studios. When Hedge
made Sompa aware of this "once in a lifetime" opportunity, Sompa called
in African drummers from Paris, New York, New Orleans and throughout the
Bay Area to a large sound stage, where they proceeded to record for days.
The voices yelling at the start were recorded across a valley in the Big
Sur National Forest.
Dance
in Fire
"Dance in Fire"
was recorded originally for a live performance with the legendary, Paul
Horn, in a two hundred year old opera house in Rieti, Italy. The performance
eventually became the subject of the Tony Papa film," Inside Italy". Horn,
Hedge and Mbongi violinist Julian Smedley, were accompanied by multi-media
projections designed to match the intricate architecture of the opera
house.
You
and I
"The Rings
of Saturn"
The child's voice before "You and I" , talks about riding a bicycle around
the rings of Saturn. He is Christopher's' son Nicholas, who was being
filmed on the set of a PSA that Hedge was directing. Nicholas, several
High School and college students, Titos, and Christopher's daughter Brandi,
were discussing world peace in a live filming session, that was eventually
aired across the US and Canada. Over fourteen million people heard their
simple plea for common sense.
Animals
The background
singers on "Animals" are Titos, Christopher and Jeanie Tracy. They are
simply saying "uh-huh" but meaning a different thing each time. The piece
is about slavery and slave ships but, when they were recording, they were
responding to pictures ranging from corporate cubicles to fast food stores,
dispossessed youth to "singles" clubs. The transition to "Trail of Tears"
was recorded during a Mbongi concert where Titos is calling for the audience
and their ancestors to celebrate their freedom. He was spraying whiskey
over the crowd, from his mouth.
Trail
of Tears
The background
telephone voices on "Trail of Tears" , were friends and family that called
in from all over the world. They were each personally connected with the
words "All the people of the World have a Trail of Tears". They were holocaust
survivors, Central Americans, WWII survivors... Each person understood
that they were speaking directly
All compositions © 1997 Christopher Hedge/Titos Sompa - All rights reserved - BMI/ASCAP
Please
let us know what you think of this music! Email to:
ben@themagicshop.com
Mail
to:
The
Magic Shop, 432 North Canal St., Suite 12, South San Francisco, CA USA
Love and special thanks to: Ed McClary, Rob Powell, Julian Smedley, Gary Brown, Biza Sompa, Dakota Aime
Bikouta, Nancy, Poppa Joe, Paul Horn, Anthony Choy, Loris Mounkala Nkodia Gilbert,Jack Hsu, Scott Dewar,
Aldo Panattoni, Total Video, Ed Martinez, Dennis Stearns, Kendis Lowe, MaMaSharon, Brandi, Ryan, Nick, Kinwani,
Francie, Tony Papa, Marathon Studios (NYC), Different Fur Studio (SF), Dolby Labs (SF), Cutting Edge Audio, Matsco
