Locomondo "New Day Rising" 2013****

Today just happens to be Greek Independence Day, so I felt I should present a Greek CD, albeit one with an international mix of sounds ranging from Greek folk to ska, reggae and hip hop. Tradition of course dictates celebrating this day with dimotika, the music of the kleftes and armatoloi rebels who won the country's freedom from the Ottoman Empire. But that's one step too far, so I'll just content myself with eating the traditional bakaliaro skordalia and presenting a band which embraces its Greek identity while being open to other cultures and absorving what they have to offer. I remember first seeing Locomondo live on New Years Day, 2005. It was at a small, packed, bar in Exarchia called "After Dark". I used to think that "good vibes" was a figure of speech, but on that gig one could really feel the club vibrating to their good-time reggae and ska rhythm, warmth and good humour emanating from the band to the festive crowd and back at them. The, virtually unknown at the time, band also treated us to their (then still unpublished) reggae version of classic rembetiko Fragkosyriani. This mix of folk elements with reggae and ska was at the time quite radical, though we'd later get used to it as it became a Locomondo specialty. Nowadays they are a household name in Greece thanks to their incessant touring and great performances, while another reason for their success was a novelty song that became a huge youtube hit: "Pino Mpafous Kai Pezo Pro" was about slacker youths smoking hash and playing Playstation all day. The band were worried they might be seen as endorsing this lifestyle and didn't officially release it until long after it became a party staple - and then only with a remark that the song is "a description, not an endorsement". Yeah, right... because whoever could have guessed that a reggae band (or their fans) may smoke marijuana? But Locomondo also have this conservative streak in them: next to the party anthems and the rebel songs crying for social justice, there are many yearning for a return to tradition, an idealised Greece of the past with honest hard working folk of the kind that feels uncomfortable with Internet and reality TV and would naturally be shocked by any reference to drugs.

Meanwhile, Locomondo also broke out of Greece as their version of "Fragkosyriani" was prominently featured in the German comedy "Soul Kitchen" and its popular soundtrack.  Which is how this CD came to be: It is published by a German company, discovered and bought by me while on a trip to Barcelona. About half of the album is the same with their concurrent Greek CD "Odysseia" but there are also a couple of older songs as well as some exclusive to this compilation. It kicks off with "Odysseia" a fast ska/rap/cumbia tune recounting all the stops of their tour around Greece - including, of course, the original Odysseus/Ulysses' homeland Ithaca. It is my favourite track here, along with the Manu Chao-like "Mala Onda" and the typical roots reggae songs: "Dromos Tis Kardias", "Athens City Nights", "New Day Rising" and "Crossroads". "Chthes" (χθες=yesterday, looks very weird in latin characters, doesn't it?) is a nostalgia themed tune mixing ska with the Balkan sounds popular in Greek mountain villages. Bouzouki instrumental "Diploreggies", "Marigoula Mantalena" and "San Apokliros Gyrizo" (a classic immigrant's lament) put a reggae beat behind quasi-oriental rembetiko melodies first heard a century ago in the taverns and opium dens of the cities' seediest neighboorhoods. To round up the virtual tour of Greece, there are two songs in the jaunty style popular in the islands: instrumental dance tune "Ikariotikos" and "To Tragoudi Den Xehno" featuring Greek folk singer Pantelis Thalassinos as a guest vocalist. "Ekei Pou 'Cho Taksidepsi" is a ballad with Andean pan pipes, "Edo" is 80's-sounding ska/new wave, and "Hände" a live German-language version of an older Locomondo ballad. The album ends with a ska instrumental based on children's song "Alle Vögel Sind Schon Da - Hänschen Klein". Though I don't recognise the German title, the melody was familiar from my kindergarten days (albeit with Greek lyrics), probably yours too. In any case, despite being sewn together from a variety of sources and missing most of the hits (you'd probably have to buy their "Best Of" for those), this CD makes for a good introduction to the feel-good world of Locomondo, displaying all their various sides and throwing in some rarities for those -like me- who already own their official Greek discography.

***** for Odysseia, Mala Onda

**** for Dromos Tis Kardias, Chthes, Athens City Nights, San Apokliros Gyrizo, New Day Rising, Crossroads, Ekei Pou 'Cho Taksidepsi, Edo

*** for Diploreggies, Marigoula Mantalena, To Tragoudi Den Ksehno, Ikariotikos

** for Hände, Alle Vögel Sind Schon Da-Hänschen Klein