When I learned that this month’s topic is persistence, I was having dinner with an artist who has been persistent for justice and in pro-active, anti-racist practice his entire life: Matthew King. He’s also what I call a 4:00a.m. friend — he’ll be dressed and out the door whenever he’s needed. He’s been sitting at the door of my cave for almost two decades now — watching over his elder when times are tough.
When the hurricane named María of 2017 caused rampant devastation in his beloved Borikén, King, founder and band leader of TapRoots, jumped into action and organized a benefit concert that rocked and packed the house at Hawks and Reed in Greenfield. Los Sugar Kings traveled from Boston, and many artists from our region gathered, raising significant funds — taking nothing for themselves. When Hurricane Fiona tore into Puerto Rico this last September, King was right there again with another fundraising show for grass-roots mobilization on the island. From their start, TapRoots has been about music for and by community, attracting artists and audiences from the Western Mass region, the Caribbean, and beyond.
Matthew King, formerly a beloved history and music teacher at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School in Hadley, MA, opened doors of learning and opportunity for countless, young fledgling musicians, many of whom are building successful careers both inside and outside of the industry. Now, it’s King’s turn to devote full-time attention to his music and family. The new TapRoots album, The Resonance Within, demonstrates the ever-widening wing span of King’s gifts as a multilingual (English/Spanish/Yoruba) songwriter, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer. As one who has honed organizing skills over decades — since his years living in New York City — King is an alchemist of music, community and intentional purpose in serving the greater good through music and intentional action. Although I’m not a music reviewer, I cannot help but celebrate an album created from a deep love for community and the understanding that it is key to our survival and thriving. For some, the terms “grassroots” or “community-based” evoke an often erroneous idea that somehow those words are synonymous with an okey-dokey mediocrity for which excuses can be made. In the case of King and TapRoots, those words evoke the power of persistence in unified action and creativity, and the beauty that ensues when artistic collaborations are wholly aware of the need for systemic change. For King, COMMUNITY is all caps, in all ways.
King’s foundational skills as a researcher and historian amplify the depth of his choices in music creation. The TapRoots sound blends funk, soul, salsa, Afrobeat, reggae, AfroCuban jazz, Brazilian rhythms, and more, conjuring sounds of global journey and a sense of belonging — a cohesive and inclusive unity that, in lesser hands, could become a musical traffic jam. The TapRoots sound is always full of well-guided surprises and unexpected turns — clearly felt in the opening track, Song for the Ocean, which features a popular Valley musical fixture, I-Shea on vocals, with King’s talented daughter, Berklee School of Music graduate, Zami Inez.
Opening with a seascape that carries us from a gentle funk embrace into a determined hip-hop groove of determination, and into salsa where brass carries us into an Orisha celebration on AfroCuban percussive dance rhythms and vocals, it’s a party in a song that features Brahm Masla on drums; Eli Heath, bass; Abe Sanchez, keyboards; Ron Bertolet, Danny Flam and Kai Sandoval on horns; King on guitars, percussion, and organ; and he joins I-Shea and Zami Inez on vocals.
The trance-like qualities of Track 7, Obatala (among the eldest of the Yoruba Pantheon of Orishas) carries me to my joy on streets of Harlem, where strangers still greet, to the fragrances of temples by global seas, and sacred spaces of El Barrio in NYC. I listen and feel the souls of my ancestors letting me know joy is possible even in the worst of times. I find myself by the Bronx River, contemplating the possible histories of a stone. The horn lines are based on traditional chants and the rhythm is a Fela-inspired Afrobeat groove. Originally conceived as an instrumental work, it evolved into the current piece when King received a phone call from a friend in Trinidad, Kurt Alan, a.k.a. “The Last Bardjohn of Calypso” who is best known as being the only Calypsonian crowned International Soca Monarch, National Calypso Monarch and Young King, who called to say he wanted to collaborate on a song together. Alan’s soulful invocations and King’s traditional chants at the end, along with the addition of a brass track, featuring another of King’s dear friends and collaborators, Frank Newton, conjured some extra magic to an already soul-alluring track. Fun fact: Kurt Alan’s daughter, Choc’late, is one of the singers in the current TapRoots live band.
The Resonance Within, available on all streaming platforms March 20, heralding the Spring Equinox, is a most apt title for an album that will take you inside, drawing from us our inner liberated being, into a shimmering sea where no one drowns. Each composition will inspire and lead you to reclaiming your inner stories — to tell, to dance and to sing. ■
