Boddhi Satva’s “Invocation” Album Out On BBE Records

by Roy Sekewael · Published September 6, 2012 · Updated May 4, 2013

Who: Boddhi Satva
What: Invocation
Where: Bangui, Central African Republic

With numerous high-quality productions and remixes under his belt, Boddhi Satva is the truly ambassador of the Ancestral Soul sound. His debut album “Invocation”, a work of art that was 10 years in the making, was produced during trips to Africa, especially Mali (West Africa) where the inspiration for his musical manifestation was at a peek. A modest PC, a conventional sound card and one simple microphone to record vocals, drums, koras and various live instruments have resulted in this wonderful album…

Opening the album is a track that sets the stage for his music and his african roots. Having previously worked together on “Nobody Else But You” and “Who Am I”, C. Robert Walker and Boddhi are the perfect collaboration of producer and singer. To top it off, some beautiful horns just to convince you; it doesn’t get much better than this, saying that it has to be my favourite track on the album. Vikter Dupaix’s collaboration follows with a love song about a relationship between a couple who lead two very different lives. He reassures his lady “From An Other World” there is no reason for them not to be together. Heart touching lyrics, trademark claps and some very soulful Rhodes keys lace this track. Acoustic guitar and uplifting vocals from Pegguy Tabu give the message of change with united hope for the future, addressed to “Africa”, this song is touching on both a emotion and spiritual level.”Who Am I” and “Life Is A Lesson”, well if you are familiar with Boddhi’s work, these track needs no introduction, both singles released in late 2010 and have done damage on dance-floors since. I’ll still be playing these without doubt for many years to come.

The middle section of the album brings you closer to Boddhi’s connection with his african roots. The voice of the late Mangala Camara combined with Boddhi’s driving kick’s and snares, makes you want to jump up and dance to some precision hand drumming, kalimba and a traditional lead guitar float over some punchy bass. “Elengi” consists of organic chants from Zé Pequenio and Heritier, which are complimented by digital synths and parading snares, a track for the dance floor! “Ngnari Konon” featuring the one and only Oumou Sangaré continues this deep, hypnotic journey listening to this track makes me feel like its a live performance. Sonically terrific, you can hear how carefully Boddhi has approached the production on this album.

Delving back into the soulful side, “Because I Know” has a great bass guitar and the track has been blessed with the vocals from Leah Beabout, I particularly like the closing minute of the track when Leah vocally opens up with some very on-point ad libs. In “How Sex Changes Things” Boddhi continues to express his soulful side, with very catchy vocals, the track defiantly has the uplifting soul qualities I have begun to expect from his music.

“Jah Sanctuary” and “Enemies” explores and experiment with his ragga side and these are two very different tracks compared to the the rest of the album and what I would usually associate with Boddhi but both work very well with Boddhi’s trademark synths and percussion. To close the album Boddhi and Sage finish with “Stop Crying” a progressive deep track which has this build up of vocals and synths to give the high emotion of a finale…

Reflecting on this album I can appreciate how much work has gone in to this project, Boddhi has experimented with his influences and collaborated with some great vocal talents old and new, to give you an album of different songs, from those engineered to calm your mind, to others that will get the dancer floor jumping. If your a fan of Boddhi’s work; you need this in your collection.