Product Description

Debut album from dance duo 1 Giant Leap featuring Jamie Catto a founder member of Faithless. It features contributions from a host of luminaries including Michael Stipe, Neneh Cherry and Baaba Maal as well as interviews with authors. '1 Giant Leap' is a multimedia journey around the world.

Track Listing

1. Dunya Salam - feat. Baaba Maal
2. My Culture - feat. Robbie Williams & Maxi Jazz
3. The Way You Dream - feat. Michael Stipe & Asha Bhosle
4. Ma' Africa - feat. Mahotella Queens & Ulali
5. Braided Hair - feat. Speech & Neneh Cherry
6. Ta Moko - feat. Whiri Mako Black
7. Bushes - feat. Baaba Maal
8. Passion - feat. Michael Franti
9. Daphne - feat. Eddie Reader,The Mahotella Queens & Revetti Sakalar
10. All Alone (On Eilean Shona)
11. Racing Away - feat. Grant Lee Phillips & Horace Andy
12. Ghosts - feat. Eddi Reader

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15407 in Music
• Released on: 2002-04-02
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman are the co-producers of 1 Giant Leap, although it's the latter who has the hands-on role of multi-instrumentalist, recordist and mixologist, providing each song's backbone. The duo jaunted around the world, snatching vocal performances from mainstream pop artists as well as masters of the more traditionally "purist" folk forms, the policy being to record each guest with a laptop, in or near their homes. There was the obvious danger of Deep Forestation, but at least 1 Giant Leap have engaged in active collaboration rather than long-distance sampling.

Most of the tracks are homogenised into a 4/4-beat, programmed backing, with all the ethnic elements arranged neatly around this central pulse. On "My Culture" this results in a frightening face-off between the rapping conviction of Maxi Jazz and the bland pop penetration of Robbie Williams, a perverse presence indeed. "The Way You Dream" risks more, with Bollywood queen Asha Bhosle paving an incandescent way for Michael Stipe's fragile warble, the piece rising through three movements in epic fashion. Other highlights include Baaba Maal's striking call to prayer on the spacey-wafting "Dunya Salam", Arrested Development's Speech intertwining well with Neneh Cherry on "Braided Hair" and the more involved fusion of "Passion", with Michael Franti intoning poetry over massed voices, drums and wooden xylophones. --Martin Longley

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
Considering the how good some of the music was in the 1 Giant Leap TV programmes that this album accompanies, it is a big let down and a missed opportunity. There is very little evidence of the great cultural crossover music that was initially promised.
Many of the sounds that made the TV series so engaging are either absent or watered down to the point of blandness. What happened the young Chinese kids rapping in Mandarin in Tiananmen Square or the Bedouin guitarists?
All the producers have succeeded in doing here is denuding the original music of most of it's vitality and re-packaging it as ersatz world pop destined to spend more time on the coffee table than the iPod.
Don't bother with the CD album, buy the DVD of the TV series instead.

Still my favourite album
Just awesome. Fantastic musicians and mixing. Fave tracks 'Love the way you dream' and 'Daphne'. Worth buying even if you only like two tracks, but I personally love them all. If you're into travelling you will probably love it. Whole album is just an epic journey in itself. And quite spiritual. Just try it and see.

World music for the Contemporary world
To say this is world music in this case is in no way to limit it to being a stagnant repetition of the songs and sounds of other cultures and nations. 1 giant leap brings music from all over the world, and blends them with a sense of mainstream. The result is a refreshing reinvigoration of both modern pop/hip-hop and world music. Every track holds its own individual sound, which fit within the over-arching frame of the album, encasing this eclectic mix.
Most people will have heard 'My Culture' which features vocal/rap from Robbie Williams, but this is certainly not the best track. I'd say the weak point for me is 'Braided Hair', which i find the most repetitive and simplistic. That said, one of my best friend adores it.

Personal Favourites are:
'Ma' Africa' - an uplifting track with a clear tribal feel, and lyrics which seek to "make Africa a land of hope"
"The Way you dream" - Truly epic, truly gorgeous, blending the western with the indian and back to the western with Michael Stipe. A selfless song.
"Ghosts" - A ghostly sound, with strings, building in intensity. Absolutely hauntingly beautiful.