Search - Tribal Trance :: Minjahra

The Australian Magic Continues to Grow

Ben Ohmart | Vancouver, BC, Canada | 10/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After hearing several Tribal Trance albums before, this is hands down the most eclectic and risk-taking of the TT catalog so far. I'm not sure if it's my favorite, but then what's the point of recording the same music over and over? Where before they were aiming towards mostly traditional sounds, with Minjahra there is a vast array of instrumental songs and influences, from the very first whistles of opening track `Jamakewa'. This one has plenty of rhythm, oh yes, but also something sounding like a less-shrill police whistle, multi-sex chants galore, just a fun party out in the bush, where the white and the brown alike sit and jam for some global uplift. Then: we get to my favorite track. The title track. New age science and jazz by sax creep into the jungle at night where forest creatures, the birds, the flesh eaters congregate, as if transfixed by this strange woman's voice from on a high hill which now and then gives a moaning cry to the wilderness, as if calling, calling to all the eyes in the dark. As usual, this group of Australian delights bands together to test, to resurrect the glories of the past, and their own past successes, and to play with lively spirit and wondrous intrigue."