Fifteen years ago a London-based guitarist and producer named Simon Emmerson…
Fifteen years ago a London-based guitarist and producer named Simon Emmerson, fascinated by the similarities between the music traditions of Ireland and West Africa, invited members of a Senegalese group he had once worked with to a jam session with some traditional Irish musician friends. Though many variations in the line-up were to follow, this was the spiritual beginning of world-music supergroup The Afro Celt Sound System. With a sound that can only be described as fiercely life-affirming, the AfroCelts (as they’re affectionately known) are equally loved at massive, outdoor raves as they are in epiphanous moments of film scores. Perhaps more significantly, they were partially responsible for a paradigm shift within world music, in which artists were persuaded to put aside their problematic quest after the ‘authentic’, and instead embrace common ground between the world’s music traditions, as well as the advantages of modern production.
Having spent the last five years on hiatus, ACSS are now re-emerging with a career-spanning anthology, Capture, and a world tour. According to Emmerson, coming back to Australia – particularly to Womadelaide – is very symbolic for the group as it represents a return to one of their most significant proving grounds as live performers. “It was an incredibly important period for us,” he says, recalling the group’s first Womadelaide appearance in 1996. “I think that those first Australian gigs were the point where we realised we could play on international stages, and that the band had very global appeal. Prior to that, we’d come out of this fairly obscure area of the London club, post-acid house rave scene. We played Womad in the UK, which was fairly successful, but it was the trip to Australia, I think, that gave us the international vision. You can claim credit for that!” Emmerson laughs.
Not being one of those bands whose success is measured by chart positions, I ask Emmerson how a group like ACSS goes about deciding what belongs in their ‘best of’ collection. “It was a very tough selection process, and not necessarily one I would have made,” says Emmerson (who deferred the remastering process to band mates James McNally and Martin Russell). “But we decided that we weren’t going to just draw up a list of everyone’s personal choices, because then you’d get a pretty disparate, incoherent collection. Instead, James and Martin tried to put together something that is a coherent listening experience. I think you can hear the way we’ve progressed and refined the sound, and how the initial idea of putting Irish and African music together in a contemporary musical environment develops into something you can only describe as Afro-Celt music. I think we’ve kind of transcended the concepts we started with, and are now making music that is defined only by itself.”
Emmerson also confirms that Capture represents a consolidation for the band, not a swansong, with the core members planning to hit the studio sometime in 2011. Just don’t ask him to make any predictions for the new material. “We’ve just got the band back together, and we’re re-discovering the magic of playing,” Emmerson says. “To be honest, all we’re working on at the moment is getting ready to tour again and because we’re a self-managed band, that’s really time-consuming. But when we come back from Australia we’ll definitely be looking at writing new material. That’s paramount.”
“I think the experience of putting together the compilation made us realise what an incredible amount of ground we’ve covered, and the breadth of vision that we have in the band,” he adds. “It’s going to be a challenge to make a new album, because the Afro-Celts have been a very pioneering band. How you go forward after fifteen years of history is a tough one… It’s going to be interesting.”
Capture is out now through Real World.
BY JESSE SHROCK
