Jungle Fever

Chief Chebe – aka Suleman Chebe – has tirelessly promoted African culture in the UK over the years in a number of guises, as a poet, storyteller, folklorist, historian, broadcaster, author, spoken word artist, songwriter and musician. With his origins in the Sissala people from Ghana and Burkina Faso, his instrument of choice is the balafon, and Jungle Fever, the debut album from his nine-piece Scottish-based orchestra GABO, combines Afrobeat, highlife and other West African rhythms with traditional folk storytelling in hugely enjoyable fashion.

‘Ambatayala’ updates a Sissala song about forgetting your problems and pursuing your dreams. ‘Co’ tells a traditional Sissala story about three teenage girls searching for water in the bush, delivered over a simmering Afrobeat groove. ‘Soulee’ explores the spirit world as the lead guitar of Jerry Boweh interlocks hypnotically with a battery of balafons. ‘Dilimba’ is a love song with a twist, based on the tale of a princess in love with a chameleon who can control the rain, the balafons duetting this time with the trilling flute of Daniel Ashton. Best of all on the album is the title-track, a new but timeless song with a mesmerising and exultant groove written as a tribute to the wisdom of Chief Chebe’s Ghanaian grandmother.