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Ali Farka Toure & Vieux Farka Toure
by Chris May
One immediate response, when presented with these two albums--the first posthumous release by the extraordinary Malian guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure, and the first ever release by his son, Vieux Farka Toure--might be to see in the albums the passing of the “desert blues" flame from one generation to the next. In a sense, of ...
Crossborder Traffic: Congo, Guinea and Mali
by Chris May
Four outstanding albums for the New Year--two from Congo, one each from Guinea and Mali--each coloured to some degree by crossborder, crosscultural traffic, but each remaining deeply and authentically African. Rumba On The River and 20ème Anniversaire track the impact of Cuban rumba on Congolese electric dance music. Electric Griot Land takes traditional Guinean kora music ...
Continental Drift: Congo, Senegal & Cuba
by Chris May
Three outstanding albums, with recording dates spanning more than fifty years, shine a light on the symbiotic relationship between African and Cuban musics. Roots Of Rumba Rock collects forty tracks, recorded by Congolese dancehall musicians and locally released as 78 rpm singles from 1953-55. The compilation documents some of the earliest recorded impacts of Cuban rumba ...
West by Northwest: Senegal, Morocco, Mali, Niger
by AAJ Staff
In this installment: a collection of recordings from West Africa, two of them overlapping with North African music. The debut recording by Nuru Kane, a Senegalese musician based in Paris, is a fascinating hybrid of Senegalese, Moroccan and other styles; veteran vocalist Salif Keita returns to his roots on a mostly acoustic album recorded in Mali; ...
Out of Africa: Ethiopia, Angola, Peru
by AAJ Staff
There's been an interesting recent trend in popular African music where international exports (that is, widely distributed recordings and touring artists) have penetrated European and American markets to the point where they've started being recognized by outsiders as the definitive music of Africa. The Africans, however, are listening to very different music, so global Afro-pop has ...
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 ...
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