Aided by a couple of keyboardists and a guitarist,
Angela Berann performs all of the varied drums and percussion on
Groovy Womann. The album certainly is groovy, because it is about a primacy of rhythm and beat. On "Back to the Roots" she contrasts a dull bass drum with the snap of bongos and steel percussion. "Ambience" treads into the coloring area of things that rattle, shake, rasp, and scrape.
Berann calls them in as an excellent arrangement to more roots funk. "Cuban Affairs" is the most spacious of
Berann's compositions. The terse percussion phrases are disparate in time and stereo location while the keyboard suggests eerie, sci-fi effects. The last half of the piece takes on the aura of a voodoo ceremony soundtrack recorded in a reverberating high school gym, complete with whistles. On "Bubbles of Spirit" the sound of a horn in lament is summoned from the keyboards to accompany rainsticks and rattles in introduction to cymbal- and snare-accompanied bongos.
Angela Berann's
Groovy Womann is an impressive cornucopia of upbeat and engaging rhythms summoned from eclectic instrumentation. Not only should this be of interest to percussion enthusiasts but also all those that seek vital instrumental music.