Cho Cho Fire!

Now and again when I go into the large HMV shop on Oxford street I go downstairs to the folk section to check on the Buffy Sainte-Marie CDs, straighten them up and make sure they're prominently displayed and other, rogue, CDs aren't covering or obscuring them. I joke that I'm checking for a new record but I've never found one. Until today...

I walked over to the Buffy shelves and noticed that they'd stocked up the 'Best Of', 'Up Where We Belong' and 'Coincidence', and saw something pinky-orangey out of the corner of my eye. Clearly they've mis-filed a CD and mixed it up with Buffy CDs. I picked it up, looked quizzically, thought 'how odd' and then noticed something, a small note in pink on the cover that said "Featuring previously unreleased material from Buffy Sainte-Marie"... and then I turned it over to look at the track listing and there it was, 'Cho Cho Fire'!

I saw Buffy perform this song at her Highline Ballroom gig in New York a couple of weeks ago and it's full of energy and optimism, rock drumming and guitar riffs with Buffy singing on top, to be joined half way through by pow wow singing as the song builds and builds. Three minutes of perfection!

Buffy invites us into her world

'Ooo you better wake up
Man, it's like you're dead and gone...
... I know you're a city boy...
... would you come out to a new world?
I promise that I'll take it slow."

She sings that people are "Running For The Drum", the title of her new album, and the Drum is clearly meant to be a life enhancing experience, open yourselves up to it and a fuller, more satisfying life. And the chorus asks,

"Are you ready? come on now
It's a new world, Cho Cho Fire
Listen to the drum beat, that's my heart beat
Have a little fun now, Cho Cho Fire!"

... with a pow wow 'Heya heya' acting like punctuation marks and increasing in prominence as the song builds to a glorious pow wow finish. I love it!

The CD is a collaboration between Oxfam and the World Music Network and 28p from each sale goes to Oxfam. It's presented in a 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard, fold-out sleeve with notes about all the featured artists and a short essay about native American music. It notes that Buffy became known as a writer of protest songs and love songs and goes on to list people who've covered her songs. Most of the tracks on the CD are in a very 'new age' or traditional style, quite 'chill out' with a few pow wow songs, but Buffy's is the only 'pop' song and stands out a mile.

The album is available from World Music Network and you can listen to short samples of the songs so give it a go.

A new Buffy song after all this time - coo! The new album is going to be fantastic if this song is anything to go by!