Folk - Roger Watson & Musa M'Boob

Roger Watson and Musa M’Boob first started playing together in 1999 when they formed a band entitled Boka Halat. The name means ‘mutual inspiration’ in the Wolof language of Gambia/Senegal, and it is a fitting description of the nature of their partnership. On the surface, musically, they couldn’t be further apart. Watson is an English melodian and concertina player, and M’Boob is Ghanaian drummer. But this apparent chasm was bridged by a shared passion for experimenting with fusing traditional folk music from around the world, and in exploring the unexpected common musical ground between cultures. “I'd noticed that the early world fusions' in the '60s and '70s such as Indo-jazz fusion and people like Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grapelli always seemed to choose composed music like classical styles for the European component”, said Watson in a recent interview, “so I thought, lets try offering people from other cultures our own (much older) aural tradition”.
One example from this ‘aural tradition’ has been English dancing music, and their latest album, ‘Tides’ has washed away many of the age-old conventions. Established tunes like The Rose Tree and Cuckoo’s Nest and Gooseberry Blossoms have been updated with instruments such as the Indian tablas, Gambian sabars, tama and djembe, and Chilean charango alongside the expected melodian. Watson and M’Boob have combined their performances with community arts workshops which they have taken into schools in the South of England. Tonight they bring their eclectic fusion music to the Royal Oak. ER