St Germain

St Germain - St Germain

by Benedict Croft

After a lengthy break from music, the French house and nu jazz producer Ludovic Navarre returns to the scene with this refreshing project fusing Malian instrumentalists with deep French house grooves. The track ‘Sittin’ Here’ leads with the powerful Wassoulou vocalist Nahawa Doumbia and Griot guitarist Guimba Kouyate who transcend Navarre’s energetic percussive samples underlined with silky subbass riffs to create an overall sound that is subtle yet deeply funky, a sound rarely achieved by global house producers. The most impressive instrumentalism occurs in ‘Hanky Panky’ between ngoni players Sadio Kone and Guimba Kouyate who are able to merge individually complex melodies together creating a texture that appears initially intimidating but that settles into a rich groove pushed forward by recurrent jazz rhythms. Navarre in St Germain demonstrates his ability to create an organic sound by knowing when to take a step back and allow the instrumentalists to simply play, producing the tracks around their musical input to the extent where deep house appears as the natural ally of traditional Malian music. ◆