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SHEBA : 001

To say that Sheba is a strong woman is to understate. Her artistic drive to put the record straight, narrate and collaborate with others of her mettle is passionate.Given a microphone and her stunning band at heel Sheba slips into show-mode - the best of which is captured on the second disk of her debut double-album. Recorded live at the sound-shell in the Wellington Botanic Gardens about this time last year, the show starts with the charged instrumental build up of Philistines - masterfully drawn out with jazzy suspense maintained throughout a set that flows with the urgency of an outgoing tide. The disc concludes with three crafty and funny music videos and an extract from her book Shanghai Sheba, penned by Sheba in China, and recorded for broadcast on National Radio last year. That's just disc two; the first compiles studio recordings produced by Skylab - also credited as composer - featuring alt-radio favourites Shy Guy, Paekakariki and Easy. The predominant rhythms reach from an Afro-beat base into calypso, and break beats are scattered with poetic intuition. Fusing sassy brass, sax, steel drum and Hammond organ, the instrumentalisation is rich, but not so much that you turn down a second helping.

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