Kora Sutra

By John Hughes

Reviewed by Lindsay Cobb for The Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

John Hughes must be a happy man. His first CD, Kora Sutra, could not have been created otherwise. Serenity and joy float through this recording like a raft floating down a wide, placid river, inviting the listener to float along.

Hughes, a multi-talented musician, artist, and teacher, has trained with master drummers from Guinea and Mali, and teaches drumming workshops across the US. I first heard Hughes' music at an African dance recital, where Yemaya (track one of the CD) served as accompaniment. Arranged from a traditional Yoruban chant from Nigeria, Yemaya is a languid, unhurried piece consisting of percussion and vocals. The music didn't just enhance the choreography: it made me want to join the dancers on stage. Luckily, I found the CD at the snack table during intermission.

The rest of Kora Sutra continues a similar leisurely pace. It's a relaxed collection of original compositions informed by traditional African rhythms and melodies, employing such instruments as the sangban, udu, kalimba, dunun, balafone, and the eponymous kora, a plucked harp-lute with a large calabash (gourd) body, a cow hide "sound board," and twenty-one nylon strings. Hughes plays all of these instruments, some of which he built himself.

If I wanted to describe the "stand-outs" on Kora Sutra, I'd only wind up listing all the tracks. Some of the stand-outs of the stand-outs include:

I Like Your Bones, a multitracked vocalese number that combines scat singing, overtoning, and general jazzing around.

Solar Wind, one of the few tracks approaching a fast pace, it's a rather quiet jaunt featuring Erik Lawrence on alto flute, and Hughes providing everything else from marimba to salad bowl.

Slow 10 (Listen), a sultry number sung by guest vocalist Natalie Blake; the raft has floated down the river all day, and is now tied up in a secluded harbor for the night. (A friend of mine listening to this cut mistook Blake for the pop chanteuse Sade.)

River Goddess,  the last track, is a poem with musical accompaniment, recited by John DeKadt with exuberant reverence as it describes a woman on a jungle riverbank, "like fertility with feet," bathing and gathering water into a jar.

Copyright 2004, Peterborough Folk Music Society.

This review may be reprinted with prior permission and attribution.

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More Unsolicited Customer Reviews  

    of  Kora Sutra

•“John, listening to your music makes me feel the way I want to feel all the time.  It makes me feel the way I want to live my life!”

•"John, Just a note to say thank you for the cd.  It has become our favorite early morning music, accompanying breakfast, dancing and housecleaning.  [Our daughter] loves to push aside the furniture and move, and she has discovered a whole new series of bodily expressions within your music!   It is truly a moving composition.  The three of us have been touched."

•“ I start my day listening to this marvelous recording. What an excellent offering you have given all of us. Thank you so much for making this recording and giving me a gentle energizing with your music. “

•“ I just love it!  I listen to it every day, as it is my favorite CD to play when give do massages.  Thanks!!!”

•“Your CD has brought me so much joy - and peace and beauty! you are a wonder!!”

•“Thank you!  Your CD is very beautiful. I play it in my yoga classes and everybody smiles!  I look forward to introducing your music to many people.”

•“The trance and melody of the kora are tantalizing and joyous... sensual even!  And your story (with fantastic kora in the background i might add:-)... I can truly see this woman's stride and the sway of her hips. The Balaphone track gets me dancing every time it comes on! A marvelous album... thoroughly pleased with my purchase! Thanks for the tunes John.”

•“ I plan to play it for the students I'm working with in a creative movement class and have a feeling they're going to like it a lot, too.”

•“I listen to it all the time - soothing, like your sculptures.  Absolutely lovely and awe inspiring!”

•“I love your cd!!!!  It's fabulous. juicy, fun, and scrumptious!!” 

•“Hey John,  Just wanted to say  I'm enjoying the CD, and you have a such a nice voice, too!  The production is lush -you can hear all the instruments very clearly and the tone of each is warm and beautiful.  Congratulations on creating truly good piece of music.”

•“While listening, I close my eyes and find myself back at Kripalu watching you play the Kora and all the worries in the world simply wash away. Your music and voice soothe me.  Thank you so much for sharing your creative talents.”

•“When I was coming home from Burning Man I was still pretty "high" from the whole experience.  While I was on the airplane I was actually feeling a bit too high at times.  A lot of energy flowing through my system making it challenging to navigate the whole transcontinental travel thing.  Anyway, to help settle me, I turned on my MP3 player and scanned my collection.  Somehow your Kora Sutra seemed the best choice.  As the plane took off, I sat there being soothed by rhythmic bliss.  The music had a wonderful effect in helping me kind of pull it all together and relax.  It was the first time I listened to all the words in River Goddess - Amazing!  I just wanted to say thanks again for your CD, I really like it!!!”

•“I got your CD and we listen to it often.  Did you ever know that it is a great music to relax a small baby? It works very well... You made a very sensitive work.”

•“John-I have listened to your CD extensively... Me and track two have this thing going on... It just seems to bring this incredible smile to my face whenever I listen to it... Makes

me want to smile, dance, rock my body, laugh and play right along with it... This is an incredible CD - You are such a talent - Your voice is beautiful and the combination of

sounds is really just incredible..”. 

•“Having danced to [your] music many times, I knew [you] were good, but hearing the CD made my jaw drop.  I can't stop playing it, it is literally some of the most beautiful music I've heard in years.  Transcendent vocals, percussion, Kora, and compositions. Check it out!!”

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Reviews of The Oosh Paradigm

"I love this CD; it is pure art in sound waves that brings stories to mind and distant memories that conjure up images and sensations.  John's voice is smooth, dreamy, and versatile.  It's amazing what he has done; in creating each song he has put the instrumental and vocal pieces together to fit into a brilliantly arranged ensemble.  Every track is a journey into a world of bliss and feeling.  A gifted artist John is, and if you listen to the words in track 2, you will hear a beautiful poem that can touch you deeply if you dare slow down to absorb the essence of  what this artist is conveying.  I have listened to this CD over and over again, sometimes for hours, and it never bores me.  I look forward to what John comes out with next. 

P.S.

This CD is heard best as a focal point of listening, not as background music...you will miss so much deliciousness if you do not listen attentively”

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Review of The Oosh Paradigm from The Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

by: Lindsay Cobb

John Hughes, the shaman of serenity from Brattleboro, VT, has just released his second solo album, The Oosh Paradigm. It expands on the moods and rhythms he explored in his first CD, Kora Sutra, but the effect is similar: often relaxed and meditative, sometimes dancy and celebratory, always simply joyful to be alive.

Hughes, a multi-talented musician, sculptor, and teacher, has trained with master drummers from Guinea and Mali, and teaches drumming workshops across the US. He plays practically every instrument here: kora, congas, guiro, and balafon. The nine tracks on The Oosh Paradigm are extended improvisations that draw from and mix together a wide range of world styles, with the kora (a traditional west African harp-like instrument) as their centerpiece. Where else can you hear a wistful piece like Romanian Moonlight, so evocative of western Europe, or such a flamenco-driven piece as Danza del Amor, or even a jazzy piece like Not Quite All Blues, inspired by Miles Davis—all employing the complex multi-stringed kora? Hughes proves to be as versatile as his instrument of choice, sliding in and out of the different styles and moods and making them totally his own.

Two of my favorite tracks on this CD feature Hughes' vocals, I Could Hear the Earth and Wail Song. On both, his lyrics are spare but evocative, and his smooth tenor is as personal as an old friend's. It makes me think of the words of another shaman (of sorts), Kahlil Gibran: "In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures." When John Hughes shares his sweet music, he is indeed everyone's friend.