Curiche

In the past ten years Afrobeat has spread across Latin America, new disciples discovering the genre through the internet and appearances from the likes of Tony Allen and the Kutis, who started making trips across the Atlantic only recently. These tours put Newen Afrobeat, a Chilean collective, in touch with Seun Kuti (who they performed with in Lagos in 2015) and Oghene Kologbo (a member of Fela's Africa 70), who features here on ‘Open Your Eyes’. It's one of the album's most impassioned tracks, the 15-piece group reacting to Kologbo's vocals with one of their tightest grooves, waves of brass building to sweet crescendos.

Yet, despite strong lyrical themes -especially in a brace of songs about the Mapuche people of Chile – the music here too often feels good natured. The Afrobeat basics are present, but there is no great energy propelling the music forward. Final track ‘Come y Calla’ is the perfect example. Lyrically, the song carries a powerful message, people are being told to ‘shut up and eat’, do just what money allows, but the rhythm saunters, the vocals are polite and the solos add little feeling. There's a good Afrobeat band here, but they're missing what makes the genre so vital.