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Baka Beyond — Spirit of the Forest
Album: Spirit of the Forest
Avg rating:
6.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2867









Released: 1993
Length: 5:21
Plays (last 30 days): 3
(Instrumental)
Comments (242)add comment
Reminds me of the great Bob Harris. They were one of his favourites. He used to play this album a lot on his Saturday night program. This was pre RP of course!
 Rixter wrote:


Takes me back to days lost in Africa on my motorbike after quitting corporate slavery. I guess it wasn't slavery if I could quit... but it certainly felt like it!

African music is an acquired taste for a westerner but if you are exposed to it long enough, you get it.




Well, thanx to RP, I GET IT!!! GREAT TUNE!  Thank You RP!  


Takes me back to days lost in Africa on my motorbike after quitting corporate slavery. I guess it wasn't slavery if I could quit... but it certainly felt like it!

African music is an acquired taste for a westerner but if you are exposed to it long enough, you get it.

Soooo fine!!!!
The first 15 sec brings fond memories back of this guy

Took a few moments for this to get going, then the percussion started and it became a "most excellent" tune. I like the addition of the Celtic fiddle parts with the African beat.

 eileenomurphy wrote:
Interesting! I like it! I never heard of them before, Thank You RP!   


Local-ish band to us, seen em many times, always a great show. Su Hart did singing workshops at a drumcamp run by Ayo that we attended.. Awesome fun 
I've always thought this was truly special; RP rules for playing it! The rhythms and naturally uplifting sounds remind me of seeing the Kecak Dance often in my 3 times to Bali, during which not only the performers chanting, "Kechak! Kechak! Kechak!" (and dancing as if possessed) but also all the animals and insects in the entire jungle around can get into a trance-like state of frenzied celebratory abandonment to the cathartic healing power of Sound and Nature. Hearing this Divine magic makes me want to go back!
 RParadise wrote6hnhyhnj.mhm mnjhh:
Yet another great example of a group and hhy
hhthωξηθξηηθηξθ.τCDθξξυηβγηνμ ββ I never wo θuld .κhave  ήξερε ξknown νηηexisted ξη
θηξξηη
θηwithout RP. And I found this disk at my local Barnes & Noble music section. Whod'a thunk?
 Μου
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Still wonderful.
 ShoreGirl wrote:
{#Roflol}  Wilco meets Fleet Foxes meets The Head and the Heart meets Rusted Root.
From time when there was still forest. According to TV news forest is no more. At least in Amazon.  
The Baka Beyond vocalists are just superb. All their records are wonderful.
boom chicka boom tap stomp, 

boom chicka boom tap stomp,

boom chicka boom tap stomp,

boom chicka boom tap stomp
This rocks.
the band are based in Bath a few miles from where we live. seem them several times including a couple of festivals. always great fun to watch and dance to. even got married to one of their tunes
Great stuff
the entire album is good.
 chunkymunky wrote:

They're still going strong.  I've seen them thrice.  Twice in a packed to bursting-at-the-seams pub in Oxford in the early 00s and more recently in our village hall (lots of folk acts go through here including the likes of Fairport). 

Well worth a watch, and amusing to see a group of surprised looking west-country pensioners dancing away to a kind of music they didn't know they liked!

 
your village sounds most excellent!
 mgkiwi wrote:
This song is sooooo annoying!!!!  {#Frustrated}

 

agreed - it tilts me while playing Poker
This song is sooooo annoying!!!!  {#Frustrated}
 TerryS wrote:
Saw Baka Beyond in the late 90's iirc and they were amazing live. Why, they even got me out of my seat and swaying. OK alcohol may have been involved.

 
They're still going strong.  I've seen them thrice.  Twice in a packed to bursting-at-the-seams pub in Oxford in the early 00s and more recently in our village hall (lots of folk acts go through here including the likes of Fairport). 

Well worth a watch, and amusing to see a group of surprised looking west-country pensioners dancing away to a kind of music they didn't know they liked!
This is a very annoying tune!!!! {#Beat}
{#Roflol}  Wilco meets Fleet Foxes meets The Head and the Heart meets Rusted Root.
 Toke wrote:
Correct me if I am wrong here but I am led to believe it is not yodelling but a Native call that is used in the Cameroons, and a comment I read said that this is Hypnotic which is not far from the truth as these Natives use this call/sound when having taking some magical mystic drug that is required to enable them to enter the spirit world and contact their ancestors. I am amazed at the negative comments which is beyond me as this sound/track in fact the whole album couples the Gallic rythmns with the drum beats of Africa intertwining as if they were one, or perhaps they are. I have only ever submitted 2 tens and this is one of them. 
 
Cameroon you say?
 
Loaned this CD to a friend of mine way back when.  Never saw it again.  {#Mad}
{#Cheers} love this tune, it just always puts me in a good space{#Bounce}
Saw Baka Beyond in the late 90's iirc and they were amazing live. Why, they even got me out of my seat and swaying. OK alcohol may have been involved.
 haresfur wrote:
World music fusion raises questions in my mind about cultural (mis)appropriation but I'm coming to the opinion that it is overall a good thing and just as valid for British musicians to incorporate African influences as it is for them to incorporate blues.  And the same is true for other cultures.  I love that there are groups world wide playing Reggae - including aboriginal Australians.

Aside: IMO this is particularly true in the case of young musicians who push the boundaries of their cultural influences and can bring fresh excitement  to those of us overly set in our ways.

 
Very true, just yesterday the kid next door was playing some "garage" in his bedroom!
very nice!
 (former member) wrote:


This is cool...  love it...



 
..somehow still cool..
{#Jump}  {#Guitarist}  {#Cheesygrin}
 lemmoth wrote:
Thanks for the PSD option.  Got to hear "Hit the Ground"

 
I got Pink Floyd — Have A Cigar !!
Hey.

You like this music?

Then maybe you like this film:

https://songfromtheforest.com

post produced by this company


www.edelbytes.com

;-)

Jakob 
Had a big shout out from some bloke tonight, about work, life, people, men, women
So tired about cliché
This came just perfectly to cast away all he shadows where I was wordless 
 ziakut wrote:
{#Bananasplit}

 

...agreed 100%
First time I have heard this: love the electric violin, the yodeling: not so much. But with such a great groove it still grabs me.
World music fusion raises questions in my mind about cultural (mis)appropriation but I'm coming to the opinion that it is overall a good thing and just as valid for British musicians to incorporate African influences as it is for them to incorporate blues.  And the same is true for other cultures.  I love that there are groups world wide playing Reggae - including aboriginal Australians.

Aside: IMO this is particularly true in the case of young musicians who push the boundaries of their cultural influences and can bring fresh excitement  to those of us overly set in our ways.
Like it...reminds me of at time in a forest of the great NW with only drums and voices.
Wow, haven't heard this song since like 1995, massive nostalgia trip. Copied from CD using Midisoft's Sound Impression in Windows 3.1.
{#Bananasplit}
Thanks for the PSD option.  Got to hear "Hit the Ground"
 AndyJ wrote:


Cause some folks like it... You can always go to Pandora or Spoify and listen to -you- music ...altho to me that's like drinking ones own bathwater... RP adds new, old, different and keeps changing... That's why -I- like it... I never know what's coming...and I have spent a few hundred on CDs from the experience... I like new stuff...even if it's just Nu2Mi...
 
I agree with AndyJ here; well said!
Changing to an 8!     {#Think}
we be dancing in my trailer - thanks Bill
 kaybee wrote:

Definitely Sting was influenced by African music, like the vocals in this piece.

Normally I don't like yodeling (if this is what it is) but I do like this.

  Correct me if I am wrong here but I am led to believe it is not yodelling but a Native call that is used in the Cameroons, and a comment I read said that this is Hypnotic which is not far from the truth as these Natives use this call/sound when having taking some magical mystic drug that is required to enable them to enter the spirit world and contact their ancestors. I am amazed at the negative comments which is beyond me as this sound/track in fact the whole album couples the Gallic rythmns with the drum beats of Africa intertwining as if they were one, or perhaps they are. I have only ever submitted 2 tens and this is one of them. 

I like the supporting music. It's almost trance inducing. {#Bananajumprope}
 glowworm wrote:
Oh why do we have to have this keep coming around? And why can't we rate songs as zero - its not worth 1!
 

Cause some folks like it... You can always go to Pandora or Spoify and listen to -you- music ...altho to me that's like drinking ones own bathwater... RP adds new, old, different and keeps changing... That's why -I- like it... I never know what's coming...and I have spent a few hundred on CDs from the experience... I like new stuff...even if it's just Nu2Mi...
 jmaxi wrote:
Rubbish- I was listening to Deep Forest in the Whirlygig in the earltyu '90s - miles better IMHO

 
vit wrote:


Except that this came out 9 years before that song (see Spirit of the Forest Info vs Deep Forest Release Date)

So maybe Deep Forest sounds a little too much like Baka Beyond.
 
 
Actually, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but Jmaxi is right.  I used to listen to this genre a lot...not 100% my choice.  I remember when both came out.  This came out in '93.  Deep Forest's first album, which sounds very much like this, was released in '92 (US release in '93).  The album you mentioned above was Pacifiique, it didn't come out until the end of 2000.

If anyone was copying anyone it was Baka Beyond, copying Deep Forest.
Oh why do we have to have this keep coming around? And why can't we rate songs as zero - its not worth 1!
This is great background music to work by..I like the yodelling.

Theres' on;y one Irish/Gypsy/Appalachain song— it does "Di-dee-di, Dee-diddly-di"... Zzzzz... Oops- dozed off there.... <1>
Yodeling in the valley {#Tongue}
Love it.
 Ahnyer_Keester wrote:
Did Sting rip off the yodel in this song? It sounds familiar.
 
Definitely Sting was influenced by African music, like the vocals in this piece.

Normally I don't like yodeling (if this is what it is) but I do like this.

 rtunell wrote:
Time to retire this one.
 
Just a two-week vacation would be fine with me...
 Boz wrote:
My will to live has departed and not in a good way. This is awful just awful.
 
The only thing lacking here is the ability to mute/ignore posters like you so that they disappear and disturb us never again. 

Best listened to in a decommissioned church with an enthusiatic audience.
 zanref wrote:
Sounds really good after Pink Floyd. Like a girl's warm, gentle and galvanizing kiss after a wonderful and deep sleep...

 

I want whatever it is you ingested!{#Eek}
My will to live has departed and not in a good way. This is awful just awful.
Yawn
 Ahnyer_Keester wrote:
Did Sting rip off the yodel in this song? It sounds familiar.
 
yodels?
There are plenty of Yodels to go 'round.


Did Sting rip off the yodel in this song? It sounds familiar.
 xkolibuul wrote:
Whatever. There's no hiding the fact that "civilization" as defined along Western lines is really, really good at destroying other ways of living in the world. Its been true ever since Europe had the wherewithall to send galleons across the Atlantic, it was true of colonialism, and its true of multinational corporations and consumerism presently. Time to grow up, dude, there's a lot of tragedy out there. Be thankful you apparently don't have to face it in person.

 rtunell wrote:
Time to retire this one.
 

Nice!
Sounds really good after Pink Floyd. Like a girl's warm, gentle and galvanizing kiss after a wonderful and deep sleep...

 lovemydog wrote:

I believe that is clapping and drumming. I don't think African Pygmies have a lot of access to tap shoes.

{#Rolleyes}
 
Apparently they found an electric bass...
SPIRIT of the saur forest!
I am back. Nice recovery from Marley, Bill.
I know it's sort of low-rent fusion, but the essential magic of the forest people in these albums still hits me deep.  Just got back from Brazil, with different but intense, ancient indigenous cultures of its own (which are on the edge of extinction).

 HazzeSwede wrote:
Loony Spirits looping around,beyond funny! #6
 
4 x 2 = 8!  The second listen is always beneficial, i think.

Loony Spirits looping around,beyond funny! #6
An,This never gets old!
 rtunell wrote:
Time to retire this one.
 
bump

Time to retire this one.

baka beyond by ~sholky2
Marko Solic  ©2009-2010 ~sholky2

ethnoambient 2009


 Felix_The_Cat wrote:
That Forest Spirit is just a loop?
 

Oh yes, most spirits are trapped in a loop, that is why they show themselves.{#Yes}
Thanks for playing — love it!
That Forest Spirit is just a loop?
Great pick me up song.....what a nice suprise this afternoon
Heard this about one time too many.  Never turned down the volume on RP before, this is a first.
 lemmoth wrote:
Not a song.  I like songs.  2
 
Sure it is!

dictionary.com:
SONG ~ noun
1.a short metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, esp. one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad.
2.a musical piece adapted for singing or simulating a piece to be sung: Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words."
3.poetical composition; poetry.
4.the art or act of singing; vocal music.
5.something that is sung.
6.an elaborate vocal signal produced by an animal, as the distinctive sounds produced by certain birds, frogs, etc., in a courtship or territorial display.



What a great afternoon pick me up....LOVE this tune
How this can come after a wonderful Nick Drake track really beats me...

Rubbish- I was listening to Deep Forest in the Whirlygig in the earltyu '90s - miles better IMHO

 
vit wrote:


Except that this came out 9 years before that song (see Spirit of the Forest Info vs Deep Forest Release Date)

So maybe Deep Forest sounds a little too much like Baka Beyond.
 


The problem for Pygmy tap dancers is that if they fall off and land in the sink, it's too far up to climb....
GMO world music.

I thought it was Irish stepdancers a la Riverdance.  But no that would be Afro Celt Sound System...{#Eh}
<joke>

lovemydog wrote:

I believe that is clapping and drumming. I don't think African Pygmies have a lot of access to tap shoes.

{#Rolleyes}
 


Why it's not a song? I think it accomplish more factors to be a song than works by Britney Spears, El canto del loco, Jonas Bros, Hanna Montana, any Reaggeton song, Paulina Rubio, Enrique Iglesias and a long etc of so-called "singers".

I like it quite much.

 
lemmoth wrote:
Not a song.  I like songs.  2
 

The background sounds remind me of my neighborhood
 Null_Hypothesis wrote:

There isn't much deep rainforest left in Africa, it's all been cut down.

 
Not when I last looked. Plenty of wilderness left. OK not what it once was, but there are still many wonderful expanses of forest.

Can't make up my mind about this music. Bit wallpapery. Suppose I might get a bit more work done. Oh damn, I won't because I'm typing this...

Not a song.  I like songs.  2
Yeah, yeah, it's politically correct-sounding, whatever. Give me something that will not put me to sleep.
Dig!{#Dancingbanana}
 lovemydog wrote:

I believe that is calpping and drumming. I don't think African Pygmies have a lot of access to tap shoes.

 

Actually, that's not the problem — it's just that tap shoes don't make much sound on the jungle floor...
 Toke wrote:
Amazing tap dancers.....
 
I believe that is clapping and drumming. I don't think African Pygmies have a lot of access to tap shoes.

{#Rolleyes}


i really liked this cd when i first bought it about 12 years ago...but then...i realized that all the songs sound the same.... it's all very repetitive, within each track, and from track to track...

 fuh2 wrote:

Yodeling- "In Alpine folk music, it was probably developed in the Swiss Alps as a method of communication between mountain peaks, later becoming part of the region's traditional music." 

I suppose pygmies yodel too as a means of communication in the deep rainforest.

Add a bell choir or a gamelan ensemble and we'll have yodels and ring-dings.

 


 fuh2 wrote:

Yodeling- "In Alpine folk music, it was probably developed in the Swiss Alps as a method of communication between mountain peaks, later becoming part of the region's traditional music." 

I suppose pygmies yodel too as a means of communication in the deep rainforest.



 
There isn't much deep rainforest left in Africa, it's all been cut down.

Yodeling- "In Alpine folk music, it was probably developed in the Swiss Alps as a method of communication between mountain peaks, later becoming part of the region's traditional music." 

I suppose pygmies yodel too as a means of communication in the deep rainforest.



jessibird wrote:
I much prefer the non-remixed recordings, with just the "yodelling" style vocals (which by way, are genuine traditional performances, nothing pseudo about them) and the traditional accompaniments, and the water drumming. None of this electric violin syrup poured on top. But then this isn't a station that plays a lot of African music, and I wouldn't expect to hear the unadulterated acoustic version from RP.

This is just okay.

wow that seems like a slap in RP's face after bring the music to ya, sure I would enjoy more african music but damn sure haven't heard any other station playin' it, think ya could be lil more apreciate, TY Bill I enjoyed it

the vocal and cricket is the only thing i like on this tune and even then one of those becomes a bit repetetive.4 only


 Ntropy wrote:


I was able to see them a few years ago, and found their live show to be quite excellent! I think a bit more energetic than the studio work. I loved it!
 

I saw them in a small bar in Seattle... Fabulous!!

I much prefer the non-remixed recordings, with just the "yodelling" style vocals (which by way, are genuine traditional performances, nothing pseudo about them) and the traditional accompaniments, and the water drumming. None of this electric violin syrup poured on top. But then this isn't a station that plays a lot of African music, and I wouldn't expect to hear the unadulterated acoustic version from RP.

This is just okay. 
 Toke wrote:
Amazing tap dancers.....
 
That's tap dancing? Whaddaya know!

This song always makes me feel like going for a ride in a horse drawn carriage.

Amazing tap dancers.....
 Beaker wrote:
Oddly enough, their performances live, or at least the two or three times I've seen them now, aren't any where near as interesting as their recordings.

Perhaps that due to the outdoor stage — as I haven't seen them in a decent venue yet.

Good group.
 

I was able to see them a few years ago, and found their live show to be quite excellent! I think a bit more energetic than the studio work. I loved it!
Love eclectic sounds like this.  {#Meditate}
This is insipid.
*yawn* first Marley, now this? Floyd now seems like a distant memory, sort of like the roman empire :(
Oh boy, it's Beyond Banal again.
definitely sounds like deep forest and i have no problem with that....love it!
Zapmedia wrote:
Sounds very much like Deep Forest. Too much so.
Except that this came out 9 years before that song (see Spirit of the Forest Info vs Deep Forest Release Date) So maybe Deep Forest sounds a little too much like Baka Beyond.
what about playing pacifique from deep forest?
Sounds very much like Deep Forest. Too much so.
Oh boy, looped pseudo-tribal yodeling over hand percussion. That's certainly not cliched New Age music or anything.
like some Shahin and Sepehr. Y RP does not put anything from them?
Let's hear some Deep Forest too. I've lost my CD and it's not on iTunes...
A Swiss guy lost in Africa - nice combo!