Track 14 The Promise
Digital re-appraisal of a Monkfesh track by Paul O’Sullivan.
Conga: Gary Wallace
Percussion: Mandy Billingham
Drums: Vernon Cowdy
Bass: Liam Barnard
Keyboard, percussion and vocals: Anna Wight
Vocals: Papa Paul
Timbales and bongo: Mike Forde
Guitar and vocals: Paul O’Sullivan
Paul writes: ‘The idea behind this glitch-and-bleep, cut-and-paste, re-appraisal of a Monkfesh track was to assert and challenge the relative boundaries of inventiveness in sonic space of instruments such as the agogo (bell) and the tumbadores (congas), both of which share centre stage at the beginning of the track. I chose to highlight the agogo because of its function in African-derived Brazilian music as an ‘asymmetrical timeline’ – a method of defining points of entry for different instruments in the ‘bar’ through a tapped rhythm, or in this case a two-tone melody, which is different from the Western music notion of the downbeat. The asymmetrical timeline is emblematic of many African musical cultures, and is what I often feel I enjoy most in African music, since it creates a delicious and complex crossing and interlocking of musical cycles and riffs.’
Paul O’Sullivan entered the BA Music programme at SOAS in Autumn 2003. Amongst the other Monkfesh members, Liam Bernard graduated in 2006 and Anna White is in the final year of her BA.
