Hybrid-SACD - CAPJ 82020 SA Read more.
1. Abangoma (The Healers)
2. Uptownship
3. Mandela (Bring Him Back Home!)
4. Grazing in the Grass
5. Lady
6. Until When
7. Languta
8. Nomali
9. Market Place
10. Ntyilo Ntyilo (The Love Bird)
11. Ha le Se (The Dowry Song)
12. Stimela (Coal Train)
There is probably no other disc that has become such a standard in hi-fi studios as Hope. The African live work of flugelhorn player Hugh Masekela has bored its way into the ear canals of all those who like their music loud and clear. The new Kevin Gray remaster from 2008 is very fat and yet sensitive. In terms of sound, the CD layer is already far superior to the familiar standard CD.
In the SACD booklet, Hugh Masekela gives an insight into the creation of each song. He explains which part of Africa the stories and melodies come from. You learn about his relationship with Nelson Mandela and the gruesome story behind the most famous of his songs, 'Stimela'. This ten-minute epic must have killed more audiophile mini-monitors than all the orchestral tuttis put together. One is always tempted to push the volume control to the limit.
This song is about the coal train, the train that takes day labourers to work in the mines. Hugh Masekla's grandmother used to brew a strong beer for the miners to take them away from their misery for a few hours at weekends. Young Hugh would serve the beer and listen to the workers' stories. Stories of men who had stayed underground forever, of those who had returned home to find only the ruins of their family home, and of those who had collapsed under the weight of 16-hour days, with no pay and not even the money to travel home in disgrace.
The recording itself comes from Blues Alley in Washington and took place on 30th and 31st July and 1st August 1993. At the time, no one expected this live concert to be such a phenomenal success.
If this recording seems unusually quiet to you, then you know how the 'loudness war' has affected you. The maximum level, very close to what is possible on a CD, is actually reached on track 3. However, all tracks contain realistic dynamic jumps and are not always uniformly loud, whether a soloist or a whole band is playing. So feel free to turn up the volume, but be prepared for some dynamic surprises.
