From the creator of the historic, ground-breaking recording of poetry, 'Nuyorican Symphony', comes a starkly moody CD of amazing passion and clarity.
Since 1980 Paul Skiff has been hushing crowds with musical poetry that combines raw, aggressive [+]From the creator of the historic, ground-breaking recording of poetry, 'Nuyorican Symphony', comes a starkly moody CD of amazing passion and clarity.
Since 1980 Paul Skiff has been hushing crowds with musical poetry that combines raw, aggressive emotion with shocking logic. It has been difficult for the cultural establishment to find him acceptable.
Developed by improvisation, the recordings on 'total juju' were captured live to preserve the immediacy of Paul's collaboration with melodic and rhythm-making musicians. The results are a wholly new style that reconciles American and African musical influences with what Miguel Algarin, the founder of the world renowned Nuyorican Poets Cafe, calls "an amazing passion and clarity."
Co-produced with Hui Cox, producer of Grammy Award-nominated recordings,'total juju' also contains subtle beatboxing and incantatory vocalectrics from the sensational a capella artist Kid Lucky.
What you will hear on 'total juju' is eleven innovative, startling compositions that are by turns stark, grim, sexual and liberatory; a densely moody tour de force created from a small ensemble of master musicians and Paul Skiff's uncompromising words. Sophisticated guitar work along with rhythms owed to Africa, supported on riff-driven bass lines and complimented or sparked on by unpredictable beatboxing, all composing a foundation for words spoken and sung that shift from melodious to unhumanly mechanical, from lush whisper to muscular declamation. From the totally unclassifyable 'pulsedrink' and 'laughing senators' to hints of jazz in 'ride around the sun' to the dark rock sounds of 'thirst' and 'honey jar' to the invocations of 'lovebite' and 'blessventure' the sound is urban, mysterious, cult-like, and completely at ease with the difficulty it presents.
'total juju' is a revolution in poetic language accompanied by brilliantly improvising musicians who revel in the power and inspiration.
Artist biography:
Paul Skiff is a performer, artist, and writer who lives
in New York City. He has presented his rarely published or recorded work ('Aloud:Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe' the American Book Award-winning anthology published by Henry Holt & Sons and 'Chick for a Day' the critically noticed anthology published by Simon
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Genre/Tags: 
Ringtones
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