Word: chaka
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That was round one. After a wait of an hour ("their train's been held up," Ivers pleaded) the second group of the evening arrived--Gilbert Moses' Chaka (the name of a great Zulu warrior-chieftain...
There is a new breed of black city musicians emerging whose sound is represented by the Chambers Brothers at its worst (and that's not bad) and by Sly and the Family Stone at its best. Chaka is of this breed--a gay and competent group of black rock-and-rollers...
...signs of this new rock is its emphasis on intricate rhythmic patterns of voices. The Family Stone manage to carry these off on both fast and slow songs but Chaka was successful mainly on the up-tempo numbers. Gilbert Moses on lead guitar contributes deft Cropper-like touches, and the band generally held together well--particularly on a superb sliding easy version of "My Girl." This new city-soul sound is, of course, heavily influenced by Booker T., and Chaka showed this in its obvious delight and skill at playing "funky instrumentals...
...last blues number, two hours later, Ivers joined them. The substitute drummer "Turk" had by now jelled into Chaka's style and was wielding great flourishes of beats expertly, Ivers going into his characteristic end-of-a-phrase gesture of jerking open his left arm as if on reflex, Gilbert Moses playing sweet and sharp riffs--the blues was thriving and one wondered a little about the need for "new rock...
...quickly degenerated from a political brawl to old-fashioned warfare. Throughout the native quarters of Bacongo and Poto-Poto, Balali tribesmen, loyal to the abbé, and the M'Boshi went after each other with everything from broken bottles to the deadly assagai-the short spear used by Chaka, the "Black Napoleon," to conquer his 19th century Zulu empire. At first the M'Boshi in their white headdresses proved more adept at carving up their enemies just as their ancestors used to do, but the Balalis, wearing leaves in their hair, retaliated by setting whole blocks...