【搬运译】Pitchfork评2019年原声带《The Lion King: The Gift》（狮子王：礼物）

搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）

翻译：Peter D

审议：Emma.Z

推送：Lynn Liu

Beyoncé parlays her role in Disney’s The Lion King to put out a fine companion album that showcases today’s African stars.

Beyoncé很好地利用了她在迪士尼的《狮子王》中的角色，推出了一张很好的伴唱专辑，展示了今天的非洲明星的风采。

As Beyoncé’s art has grown outwardly political and pro-black throughout the decade, she has increasingly called upon African-born artists to participate in and inform her work. She did this with Tofo Tofo, the Mozambican pantsula dancers who appeared in her 2011 “Run the World (Girls)” video. In her self-titled era, she sampled Nigerian feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on 2013’s “***Flawless,” and Griot vocalist Ismael Kouyaté on the Afro-inspired “Grown Woman.” The Lemonade film, which was threaded by excerpts of Somali-British poet Warsan Shire’s work, featured ritual Yoruba body makeup work by Nigerian-American artist Laolu Senbanjo. During her 2018 set at Global Citizen Fest South Africa, she recruited a local choir to add Zulu backing vocals to a performance of “Halo.” And later that year, her headlining Coachella performance interpolated Fela Kuti, which can be heard on the subsequent Homecoming film and album.

在过去的十年里，碧昂斯的艺术在政治和支持黑人方面都有了明显的发展，她越来越多地呼吁非洲出生的艺术家们参与并为她的作品提供灵感。她曾与来自莫桑比克的pantsula（译者注：一种起源于南非的舞蹈）舞者Tofo Tofo合作，后者出现在了她2011年的“Run the World (Girls)（女性统治世界）”的音乐录影带中。在碧昂丝主宰乐坛的时期，她2013年的歌曲“***Flawless（完美无瑕）”中采样了尼日利亚女权作家Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie的演讲，在非洲风的“Grown Woman（成熟女人）”中也采样了西非吟游诗人声乐家Ismael Kouyaté的片段。在用英籍索马里诗人Warsan Shire的选段串联而成的《Lemonade（柠檬水）》电影中，美籍尼日利亚艺术家Laolu Senbanjo的约鲁巴人（Yoruba）仪式身体化妆也有着重要地位。在2018年的南非世界公民音乐节表演中，她召集了当地的一支合唱团来为“Halo（光环）”的表演配上祖鲁（Zulu）和声。同年早些时候，她领衔科切拉的演出中还插入了Fela Kuti的作品，这在后来的《Homecoming（归家）》电影及专辑中都能听到。

In her ongoing quest to both pay homage to a black cultural history and contextualize herself within it, she took advantage of her role as Nala in the super-CGI remake of The Lion King and hired a swath of African artists and producers for a new album inspired by the movie. The Gift is an extension of Beyoncé’s work and its themes of ancestry, self-love, spirituality, and family. But its main purpose is to showcase today’s African musical stars, putting their sound on an enormous platform using the commercial reach of one of the world’s biggest pop titans and Disney’s highest-grossing franchise.

在Beyoncé对黑人文化历史的不断探索，以及把自身带入其中去领会的过程中，她利用自己在这部超级CGI（计算机生成影像）重制的《狮子王》中的Nala角色，并请了一大群非洲艺术家和制作人来完成一张由这部电影所启发的全校专辑。《The Gift》是对Beyoncé的作品以及其祖先、自爱、灵性、家庭主题的延伸。但是这张专辑的主要目的在于展现当今非洲的音乐新星们，利用世界最大的流行巨星之一的商业影响力和迪士尼最卖座的版权，把他们的声音推上一个巨大的平台。

Similar to Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther-inspired album and other recent globe-trotting works like Drake’s More Life and GoldLink’s Diaspora, The Gift is thrilling because of the diasporic connections being made through collaboration. African artists from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, and South Africa all display a wide range of regional genres and merge them with American styles. This works best on tracks like “My Power,” where rap weirdo Tierra Whack and Top 40 songwriter Nija join forces with South African gqom badasses Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelley for a searing DJ Lag-produced track about black girl determination and resilience. Meanwhile, “Don’t Jealous Me” features a survey of different artists that fall under the oft-misused umbrella term of Afrobeat, as Nigerian stars Tekno, Yemi Alade, and Mr Eazi bring their own signature swagger to a sinister gqom-inflected banger. “Mood 4 Eva,” featuring A-listers Bey, JAY-Z, and Childish Gambino, flips a sample Malian artist Oumou Sangaré’s 1989 Wassoulou song “Diaraby Nene” into a buoyant, hedonistic flex track.

与Kendrick Lamar受《Black panther（黑豹）》启发所创作的专辑，以及Drake的《More Life（更多生活）》和GoldLink《Diaspora（大逃散）》等近期全球化的作品类似，《The Gift》的令人激动之处在于它通过合作使分散的种族之间建立了联系。来自尼日利亚、加纳、喀麦隆以及南非的艺术家们表演着各式各样的地方音乐，并用美国风格把它们融合在一起。这一点在“My Power（我的力量）”等单曲中取得了极好的效果， 在这首歌中说唱怪人Tierra Whack 和曾创作出Top 40热单的Nija与来自南非的gqom（译者注：一种源于南非德班市的电子舞曲种类）酷妞Busiswa和Moonchild Sanelley联手，最终诞生出了这首由DJ Lag参与制作的火辣单曲，讲述着黑人女孩的决心与韧性。同时，歌曲“Don't Jealous Me（别嫉妒我）”的特色是对不同艺术家的调查，这些艺术家都属于经常被误用的非洲音乐流派(Afrobeat)范畴。（译者注：区别于Afrobeats）的艺人们的概览，尼日利亚明星Tekno，Yemi Alade和Mr Eazi把他们特有的范儿带进了这首受到gqom影响的冷酷而激情四射的舞曲中。由一线大牌Bey，JAY-Z和Childish Gambino合作的“Mood 4 Eva（永远这个状态）”歌曲把对马里艺术家Oumou Sangaré的Wassoulou（译者注：一种西非音乐流派）歌曲 “Diaraby Nene”的采样片段变成了积极乐观的炫耀式的音乐。

The album also nods to Africa’s influence in Caribbean music with “Already,” a track that draws out the rhythmic similarities between dancehall and Afropop by linking Ghanaian artist Shatta Wale with global riddim-fetishizers Major Lazer. Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed “African giant” Burna Boy warns against blindly following the crowd on his solo track “Ja Ara E,” a track that channels Fela Kuti with a laidback dembow groove.

专辑还在单曲“Already（已经）”中肯定了非洲对于加勒比海地区音乐的影响，这支单曲通过连结加纳艺人Shatta Wale和全球化的riddim（译者注：雷鬼等音乐流派的节奏）信徒Major Lazer来描绘出dancehall（译者注：音乐流派）和Afropop（译者注：音乐流派）在节奏上的相似之处。同时，自封“非洲巨人”的Burna Boy在完全由他个人演唱的歌曲“Ja Ara E（开始懂得）”中警示了盲目从众，还在歌曲中灌入了Fela Kuti那轻松的dembow（译者注：一种源于牙买加的音乐节奏）节奏。

But, as critics and artists were quick to point out, The Gift doesn’t completely cover all the regions and styles that Africa has to offer. There are no featured East or North African artists, which is particularly odd considering The Lion King’s setting is loosely based on Kenyan geographical features and the character’s names originate from the East African language of Swahili. Beyoncé does her best to rectify the lack of representation by including Swahili in the beginning of “Spirit,” the only Gift song that appears in the movie, and even sings in the language at the end of “Otherside,” a glowing H.E.R.-style ballad about the afterlife. But ultimately, The Gift’s emphasis on West African Afropop and South African house seems like a half-measure in an album that presents itself as extremely dedicated to some kind of authenticity, especially coming from the reliably meticulous Beyoncé.

但是就像评论家和艺术家们很快就指出来的那样，《The Gift》没能完全涵盖非洲所有的地区和风格，其中并没有来自非洲东部或是北部的艺术家参与到专辑中，考虑到《狮子王》的设定基本上是基于肯尼亚的地理特点，而角色名字则是源自东非的斯瓦西里语，这一点就显得特别奇怪了。Beyoncé尽了最大的努力去矫正这份特性的缺失，在专辑中唯一出现在了电影中的歌曲“Spirit（生灵）”的开头加入了斯瓦西里语，甚至还在讲述死后世界的饱含情感且富有H.E.R.（译者注：R&B歌手）风格的抒情歌曲“Otherside（另一边）”结尾亲自用这种语言唱了一段。但归根结底，对于这样一张致力于展现真实性的专辑，尤其是这样一张来自可靠又细心谨慎的Beyoncé的专辑，对西非的Afropop和南非的house（译者注：音乐流派）的强调看上去更像是一种权宜之计。

Beyoncé is still at her best when she goes off-book and gets personal. “Brown Skin Girl,” featuring Blue Ivy, Brooklyn rapper SAINt JHN, and Nigerian pop star WizKid, doesn’t seem to be tied to a particular Lion King plot point. And uncoincidentally, it’s one of the more touching songs on the album. After Blue Ivy sings the hook with growing assuredness, Bey sings directly to her and any other black girl who might be judged or dismissed based on her appearance: “I love everything about you, from your nappy curls/To every single curve, your body natural… I never trade you for anybody else,” she sings in a truly heartfelt case for self-acceptance. Beyoncé takes care to dole these pearls of wisdom in a way that’s specific, but also universal to those of African descent. “Bigger,” both directed towards her offspring and anyone else who is of the diaspora, is a rallying call to aspire to greatness, because your life is connected to a greater black legacy and history.

当Beyoncé自由发挥并专注内心时，她仍旧能表现得极为出色。和女儿Blue Ivy、布鲁克林说唱艺人SAINt JHN以及尼日利亚流行歌星WizKid合作的“Brown Skin Girl（棕皮肤女孩）”看上去和《狮子王》中的任何一幕都扯不上关系。绝非碰巧的是，它也是专辑中那些更能打动人的歌曲之一。在Blue Ivy带着逐渐增长的自信唱完副歌之后，Bey开始直接对着她以及其他可能因外表而遭受评判或忽视的黑人女孩们唱到：“I love everything about you, from your nappy curls/To every single curve, your body natural… I never trade you for anybody else（我爱着你的一切，从你每根鬈发/到你身体的每一条曲线……给我什么我都不换），”她真挚地为着自我接受这个主题而歌唱。Beyoncé在谨慎地动用这份智慧时通常尽量具体，但是面对非洲祖先时也会显得十分广阔。写给她自己的孩子以及其他美洲大陆上的黑人同胞的“Bigger（更大）”是一份成就伟大的召集宣言，因为他们的生命与更伟大的黑人遗产和历史紧密相连。

But not every track on the album shakes off the precious Disney vibes. The most lackluster songs don’t have a strong conceptual core, meeting the prompt of being “inspired by” The Lion King and not doing much else. On “Water,” Cameroonian singer Salatiel sings about meeting your love interest “by the river,” conjuring up images of Simba and Nala. But confusingly, Pharrell just chants lines about water wings: “Yes, we can make it far/Don't need inflatables.” “Spirit,” the gospel-bop ballad, makes a lot of sense in the movie when it soundtracks two incredibly realistic animated lions bounding through the desert, but it doesn’t fit well with the other, more loose and ambitious tracks.

但并非专辑中的每一首曲目都能摆脱那“珍贵”的迪士尼氛围。那些最黯淡的歌曲都缺乏足够强大的理念内核，仅仅迎合了“灵感来自于《狮子王》”这一目标而没有继续深入。歌曲“Water（水）”中，喀麦隆歌手Salatiel唱着“在河边”与倾慕对象相遇，在人们脑海中唤起Simba和Nala的身影。最让人迷惑的是。Pharrell居然就唱了几句关于救生衣（water wings）的乏味歌词：“Yes, we can make it far/Don't need inflatables（是呀，我们可以远走高飞/连皮划艇都不需要）.”“Spirit”这首gospel-bop（译者注：音乐流派）抒情曲在电影中配着两只栩栩如生的特效狮子一同穿越沙漠，煽动了无数人的情感，但不得不说它和其他无拘无束又野心勃勃的歌曲完全不搭。

Even though Bey has referred to The Gift as “sonic cinema,” the album stands in the shadow of a movie that stands in the shadow of the 1994 original. Though not fully comprehensive or that musically far-reaching (due to its prioritization of African genres that have already experienced crossover success), the album still succeeds in introducing a whole new musical universe to the average American listener. And for fans already familiar with genres on The Gift, it arrives as a crucial, all-too-rare example in which African music and culture are actually being presented in the American mainstream by the artists who make it. It’s an honorable feat for Beyoncé, who has repeatedly put time, money, and energy into recruiting African talents, broadening the scope of what pop can look and sound like. Only this time, it’s a soundtrack for a Disney movie about cats.

即使Bey表示《The Gift》是一部“用声音表现的电影”，这张专辑始终笼罩在《狮子王》电影的阴影下，而电影更是被1994年的原版的光芒所掩盖。虽说这张专辑没能完全包涵非洲音乐，音乐性上也没什么足够深远的影响（因为它本身选择的非洲音乐流派已经经历了成功的跨界），它仍然十分成功地把一个全新的音乐世界带给了美国普通听众。而对于已经很熟悉《The Gift》中的不同流派的粉丝，这又是一个非洲音乐与文化居然被艺人呈现在美国主流舞台上的重要又难能可贵的例子。这是Beyoncé令人钦佩的功绩，她不断地投入时间、金钱和精力召集来自非洲的才华横溢的艺术家，不断地拓宽流行音乐视与听的边界。只不过这一次，这是一部迪士尼有关大猫的电影的原声带。