Sounds like…

A Native / African vocal crossover dance.

The review

I wrote about Deya Dova earlier this year and her Planetary Grid Music Collection. She is recording 12 mini-albums at different points in the world where energy lines converge. ‘Birthplace of the Sun’ is album 10 in the series. The reason I’ve chosen to review this one is that Deya Dova travelled to Africa to record it on various ancient sites and it brings out a new twist on her Native vocal first tribal music.

Across the seven tracks, Deya as always puts her stunning voice front and centre. Layers upon layers of calls, responses, whoops, gasps, breathes and cries – it all mounts up. Underneath you’ll hear ambient noise taken from various locations, bass synth drones and various percussion. Usually channelling a Native Indian style of vocals and percussion, ‘Birthplace of the Sun’ infuses African roots into the mix and it suits the whole tone perfectly. For instance, ‘The Deep Abzu’ has thick frame drums that rumble in unison with Deya’s bass vocal skits. ‘Backbone of Earth’ instead opts for a simmering of spiritual back and forths as voices spin in and out of the mix. ‘The Singing Stones’ has real singing stones chiming like bells that were recorded in the Stone Circle Museum. It feels like the centrepiece to the album as so much comes alive here. In contrast, ‘Land of the White Lions’ closes out the album with gentle singing, birdsong and a distant roars of animals.

With the way the world has shut down during the pandemic, I imagine it will be a while before we hear the final two albums but this series has consistently been a revelation. Deya Dova has a really unique and interesting way of thinking about music, energy and nature – combining them all together into a journey of sorts. ‘Birthplace of the Sun’ really struck a chord with me and fans of vocal and ancient music will adore it.

Recommended track: The Singing Stones

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