Yeshe Reiners is a German–born multi-instrumentalist/nomad who’s lived in over twenty countries and studied a variety of ethnic music styles. He’s called Australia home since the early 90’s, and currently lives in the Byron Bay region of NSW. Known primarily as a percussionist, he’s worked with the U.S.-based Afro-funk band Panjea, didge virtuoso Ganga Giri, Canadian slide guitar bluesman Harry Manx, and most surprisingly the teen pop group Girlfriend.

For a percussionist, Yeshe’s World Citizen is an unexpectedly gentle and melodic album. In the mid-90’s he discovered the subtle beauty of the African mbira (also known as the thumb-piano or kalimba), and having spent time in Zimbabwe studying it further, the ancestral instrument’s lilting resonance is central to this album’s success.

With a mix of traditional and original tunes, sung both in Shona and English, Yeshe’s soothingly husky voice is well complimented by the sweet harmonies of Caroline Sommers and Hottentot Party’s Parissa Bouas. Other featured guests include Indonesian guitarist Tommee, Manx on lap-steel guitar and banjo, and Giri on earth-throbbing yadaki.

A serene version of Bob Marley’s classic ‘No Woman, No Cry’ is a delightful highlight, which resists the stereotyped version, and instead meshes Yeshe’s bright mbira melody line with Tommee’s elegant fretboard fingering. The closing ‘More Offspring (Don Peyote Remix)’ offers a suitably pulsing all-in percussion romp, as a counterpoint to the acoustic laid-back ambience of most of the album.

Warmly produced by Yeshe and Manx, and released on Manx’s own Dog My Cat label, this is a debut album that’s been a long time coming, but well worth the wait. With an upfront simplicity that belies the more complex rhythms bubbling just beneath, World Citizen has to be one of the more satisfying Aussie albums released so far this year.

( By Seth Jordan )