| The Meeting Pool | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Baka Beyond | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Label | Hannibal | |||
| Baka Beyond chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Meeting Pool is an album by Baka Beyond, released in 1995. It was a collaboration between British musicians and the Cameroonian Baka. Martin Cradick, the founder and guitar player for the group, decided to make a second album after the success of the first, Spirit of the Forest.
The album sold more than 50,000 copies in its first year of release. Cradick set up a foundation to distribute royalties to the Baka people, for the songs that were considered traditional.
Production
The album is based on field recordings made in Cameroon in 1994, with Baka percussionists and vocalists; Cradick then took the recordings to the studio. Cradick used more Celtic musical styles, compared to the first album.
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide |  |
The Toronto Star determined that the attempt "to merge gentle Celtic themes and original music of the Baka people of Cameroon's forests ... just doesn't work." The Santa Fe New Mexican stated: "Occasional Irish overtones emerge from this strange brew; the overall feeling is one of a pulsing dreaminess, grounded by a happy percussive underbeat given heart by recurring female vocal tonings." Music & Media called The Meeting Pool "a lush, complex and richly rewarding album," noting the "beautiful melodies and haunting rhythms."
AllMusic wrote that "Meeting Pool has moments of real piquancy, as on 'Ohureo', a traditional from the Western Isles of Scotland... This macabre lullaby, dressed up with African drums and LeMercier's fiddle commentary, is achingly entrancing." World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East deemed the album "a truly inspired cultural mish mash that defies categorisation."
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Woosi" | |
| 2. | "Ancestor's Voice" | |
| 3. | "Lupé" | |
| 4. | "Ohureo" | |
| 5. | "Meeting of Tribes" | |
| 6. | "Journey" | |
| 7. | "Ndaweh's Dream" | |
| 8. | "Booma Lena" |
References
- Hesmondhalgh, David (October 15, 2000). Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music. University of California Press.
- Andrews, Jon (Dec 1995). "Worlds in collision — The Meeting Pool by Baka Beyond". DownBeat. Vol. 62, no. 12. p. 75.
- Tearson, Michael (Dec 1995). "The Meeting Pool by Baka Beyond". Audio. Vol. 79, no. 12. p. 99.
- "Baka Beyond Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
- Langley, Martin (6 May 1999). "Stretching the boundaries of fusion music far out of Africa". Birmingham Post. p. 15.
- "When worlds collide". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 21. May 25, 1996. p. 35.
- Melville, Caspar (2017). "Valuing Tradition: Mali's jeliw, European publishers and Copyright". Journal of World Popular Music. 4 (1): 35.
- Allen, Patrick (1999). Developing Singing Matters. Heinemann. p. 19.
- Feld, Steven (1996). "Pygmy Pop: A Genealogy of Schizophonic Mimesis". Yearbook for Traditional Music. 28: 23.
- ^ MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 2000. pp. 52–53.
- ^ "The Meeting Pool". AllMusic.
- Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 372.
- Chapman, Geoff (14 Jan 1996). "World Music". Toronto Star. p. K13.
- Cummings, Jim (22 Dec 1995). "Eclectic Mix of Rollicking New Acoustic, Jazz". Pasatiempo. The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. 61.
- "Ethnic Music Hip 'n' Hot". Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 21. May 25, 1996. p. 13.
- World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Volume 1. Rough Guides. 1999. p. 607.