Music: Carlos Niño: Connection with everything

There’s always something pulsating or buzzing in the background of Carlos Niño’s music. In a way it’s jazz, but really in the broadest sense. And of course also in this genre category because Niño’s last album, “(I’m Just) Chillin’, On Fire”, was released on International Anthem, the most interesting jazz label at the moment. Pulsating, waving, flowing: Carlos Niño’s music has a great New Age affinity. The album was recorded together with friends, a jam that lasts 18 tracks and an hour and a half. And no one was given the role of star guest. The well-known saxophonist Kamasi Washington, for example, is one of many and his instrument fits into the overall flow.

In general, total flow. The hippie wisdom that everything in the world is in flux can be seen as the aesthetic organizing principle of this music. The lyrics to the album conjure up “endless fields, boundless oceans, waves breaking on the shore.” Saxophone melodies and synth pads slide into one another, something is babbling somewhere, a flute melody sails obliviously through the room, percussion sounds gently ringing, a voice announces eternal truths in meaningful spoken word mode: about the mighty silence and of course, that “love” is “unconditional”.

The tracks were recorded in different locations, with many very different guests. Although, “guests” doesn’t apply. Carlos Niño is, above all, a percussionist and DJ, and acts in his music in the same way: like a DJ who sets the rhythm and brings moods into a sequence. And, as I said, this process is a long, calm flow in which all voices should be absorbed without any one being in the foreground.

Also released at the end of 2023 is “Rainbow Revisited,” an album that Carlos Niño recorded together with the South African pianist Thandi Ntuli. The songs are very spartan in comparison, with vocals and solo piano most of the time. “(I’m Just) Chillin’, On Fire” overflows, while “Rainbow Revisited” has the air of a meditative soliloquy. Ntuli recorded the album alone in the studio, Niño then added percussion and electronics afterwards. And only very sporadically. In addition, “herbal ambient sounds” should be, if not heard, then at least felt on “Rainbow Revisited”.

Carlos Niño likes to dress in shamanistic robes, has a huge, wisdom-suggesting beard and is not averse to esoteric vocabulary. “I live music, and I live musically, aware of sound vibrations in, of, with and surrounding everything.” .) Collaboration is the most important thing, the connection with everything. One might find this banal. And the music on “(I’m Just) Chillin’, On Fire” also slips into the shallow from time to time. But you could definitely open yourself up to that. It is true that there is a love that is unconditional, and that silence can be something very powerful. If you tone down any reservations you might have about hippiedom and kitsch, you can have a lot of fun with this music. It is truly beautiful in its radical non-violence.

Carlos Niño & Friends: (I’m Just) Chillin’, on Fire (International Anthem/Indigo); Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño: Rainbow Revisited (International Anthem/Indigo)