Loé Loá: Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree

It's hard to think of any field recording – this was captured under a mango tree, as the title suggests – that sounds so alive, that packs this much vivacity into every second. This is a style of music called golpes de tambor, popular along Venezuela's coast in areas where African slaves once settled and where their descendants, such as Machado and her group, now live. Golpes de tambor uses a number of rhythms, all featuring vocals, drums and percussion, and all leaving you breathless. This is celebratory music that previously had never been heard outside of the few Venezuelan villages where it's played.
Propelled by rapid-fire hand drums, lead vocals switch from singer to singer in an instant, while the backing vocalists create rich melodies, and hoots and squeals emanate from the musicians when the excitement boils over. On ‘Pueblo de Fiesta’ a female chorus sets the tone before Machado and the drums whirl into action and it's like a steam train bursting into life. Remarkably, the recording is so good that you can hear almost everything distinctly – voice, drum or maracas – as this village-load of musical revellers light the touchpaper time and time again.