Afro Groove Queen

Manou Gallo is a bass player and singer from the Ivory Coast with an impressive history. She has worked with Zap Mama, produced and played on Mokoomba's Rising Tide, and released a series of solo albums. She has rightly acquired a string of famous admirers, several of whom can be heard on Afro Groove Queen. The most prominent is Bootsy Collins, known for his work with James Brown, Parliament and Funkadelic, who appears on four tracks, including the opening ‘ABJ Groove’, which sets the mood with an easy-going funk workout, driven on by Gallo's impressive bass lines. There's more funky bass on the instrumental ‘Malunouka’, and a celebrity rap on ‘Come Together’, wherein Collins is joined by Public Enemy's Chuck D. But Gallo has thankfully not forgotten her African roots. ‘Femme’ shows off her vocal skills on a duet with Lene Norgaard Christensen, and she is joined by more of Zap Mama for the harmony-vocal fest of ‘Zap Gallo’. And on the easy-going ‘Yale’ there is even an appearance from the Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango. It's a classy, wildly varied set, and the final track, the edgy ‘Tinnitus’ (Gallo is partially deaf in one ear) shows that she doesn't need celebrity backing to succeed.