''The Meeting Pool'' is an album by
Baka Beyond
Baka Beyond is a world music group formed in 1992 with members from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures, fusing Celtic and other western music styles with traditional Baka music from Cameroon.
Biography
Baka Beyond began in 1992, wh ...
, released in 1995. It was a collaboration between British musicians and the Cameroonian Baka. Martin Cradick, the founder and guitar player for the group, decided to make a second album after the success of the first, ''Spirit of the Forest''.
The album sold more than 50,000 copies in its first year of release. Cradick set up a foundation to distribute royalties to the Baka people, for the songs that were considered traditional.
Production
The album is based on field recordings made in Cameroon in 1994, with Baka percussionists and vocalists; Cradick then took the recordings to the studio. Cradick used more Celtic musical styles, compared to the first album.
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Critical reception
The ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'' determined that the attempt "to merge gentle Celtic themes and original music of the Baka people of Cameroon's forests ... just doesn't work." ''The Santa Fe New Mexican
''The Santa Fe New Mexican'' or simply ''The New Mexican'' is a daily newspaper published in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dubbed "the West's oldest newspaper," its first issue was printed on November 28, 1849.
Background
The downtown offices for ''T ...
'' stated: "Occasional Irish overtones emerge from this strange brew; the overall feeling is one of a pulsing dreaminess, grounded by a happy percussive underbeat given heart by recurring female vocal tonings." ''Music & Media
''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...
'' called ''The Meeting Pool'' "a lush, complex and richly rewarding album," noting the "beautiful melodies and haunting rhythms."
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
wrote that "''Meeting Pool'' has moments of real piquancy, as on 'Ohureo', a traditional from the Western Isles of Scotland ... This macabre lullaby, dressed up with African drums and addyLeMercier's fiddle commentary, is achingly entrancing."
Track listing
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeting Pool
1995 albums
Hannibal Records albums