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Results for "African Jazz"
Zimbabwe: Roots And Legends
by AAJ Staff
Modern Zimbabwean music, which is still quite rooted in tradition, has successfully penetrated the international scene through the efforts of global stars like Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi. In turn, these sounds have motivated listeners to dig into the golden era of popular music in Zimbabwe during the '70s, with the first appearance of local recordings ...
Senegalese Voices: Daby Balde and Cheikh Lo
by AAJ Staff
The West African nation of Senegal is home of two of the biggest stars in modern world music, Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal, whose output has ranged from sabar drum-driven mbalax and other local styles to Sufi meditational music, rumba, hip-hop and dance music. Entrancing a generation of global fans with their distinctively sharp, direct vocal ...
Tales of Africa: The Kora, Mbira, Marimba and Drum
by AAJ Staff
South Africa's Sheer Sound label launched its Sheer Africa series a few years ago in order to highlight specific instruments and styles from the continent. Each edition has benefited from attractive art and comprehensive, informative liner notes that describe each track and performer in enough depth to allow plenty of further exploration. Other releases focusing on ...
North Africa Roundup: Algeria and Morocco
by AAJ Staff
This collection of North African music includes warm folk pop by Algerian singer Souad Massi, a classical recital by Moroccan oud player Driss El Maloumi, and a compilation surveying modern music from Morocco. Souad Massi Mesk Elil (Honeysuckle) Wrasse Records 2005 You have to wonder why ...
Tales of Zimbabwe
by AAJ Staff
Various Artists Tales of Zimbabwe Sheer Sound 2005 It's deeply ironic that a country like Zimbabwe, which has been in the iron grip of an evil dictator essentially since independence, could be such fertile musical territory. The answer to that riddle, of course, is that there was music ...
West Africa Roundup, Part 2: Senegal, Benin, Cape Verde
by AAJ Staff
This second update of new music from West Africa touches down on musicians in three countries with dramatically different approaches. Senegalese singer Thione Seck has created a multiethnic international fusion that combines West African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian styles in an integrated whole. Benin's Gangbé Brass Band incorporates interlocking drumming, a rich instrumental sound, and ...
West Africa Roundup, Part 1: Mali
by AAJ Staff
These three albums are all by Malian artists, but the differences among them could not be more extreme. The first two share elements of West African blues, but Amadou & Mariam extract that essence and meld it with a variety of international styles, often electric, to create a wide-reaching fusion. Boubacar Traoré has always been a ...
Mahmoud Ahmed: Ethiopiques 19
by AAJ Staff
Mahmoud Ahmed Ethiopiques 19 Buda Musique 2005 Ethiopian popular music went through an intense creative flowering during the early '70s, cross-referencing traditional styles with jazz, funk, rock, and whatever else could be used to get people moving. Listening to these groups three decades later makes for a weirdly ...
Henri Dikongu
by AAJ Staff
Henri Dikongué Biso Nawa Buda Musique 2005 While his recordings have made liberal use of production to enrich texture, Cameroonian musician (and now Parisian expatriate) Henri Dikongué is first and foremost a folk singer. The core of the music, at its essence, lies in his voice and guitar. ...
Mali and the Sahara: Compilations
by AAJ Staff
West Africa is experiencing a musical golden age. The unbelievable diversity of the region's music, often rooted in centuries-old tradition--but just as often attuned to modern production and popular accessibility--has been piling up on record and in performance at a prodigious pace. So if you don't get a chance to visit Dakar, Bamako, or Lagos in ...
