Karne Vwayaz

Zonatan is the alias of Mauritian singer Jonathan Andy. His songs are gentle and mellow, poppy even, but he has an admirable taste in writing and a lyrical relationship with poetry sources. He favours a sound that contains elements that will please lovers of music from Cape Verde, La Réunion and the Garifuna people of Central America. Zonatan's palette is deeply balanced, and reconfigures from track to track, highlighting accordion, slide guitar, rippling balafons and dodging, finger-twisting bass lines. Zonatan makes tunes with unusual instrumental trimmings accessible. His voice has a slight edge to its smoothness, and his phrasing is innovative, with cries, inhalations and quivering sustains all part of the vocabulary. The backing vocals always have imaginative shadings, and relationships with the lead lines.

Opener ‘Dan Ou Prezans’ coasts along, but with rhythmic quirks. This is followed by ‘Granmer Talate’, which is more sprightly, then strings sweep into ‘Dan Lonbraz’ with guiro, salsa-like piano and a subtle trumpet solo. ‘Biznes Familial’ has a frothy bounce, with infectious joy rather than sickly over-commerciality. Even a flirtation with a kazoo can't derail Zonatan, as ‘Blouz Lizinn’ begins with a reggae inflected lope, before accelerating into its chorus and stripping down for a brief bass show-off interlude.