My Africa

More famous for its Skeleton Coast than its sounds, Namibia's music has long lived in the shadow of neighbouring Angola. With this anthology of his first three domestic albums, singer-songwriter Elemotho RG Mosimane convincingly puts his homeland on the map, conjuring up its swathes of shifting sand in the plangent harmonies of opener ‘Kgala Namib. While drawing on indigenous Kalahari rhythms, Elemotho has a largely acoustic sound that is more universal, underlined by reggae, jazz and blues, and he has an instantly likeable, soul-creased voice that's a perfect match for his humanist lyrics. What arguably raises many of his best tracks above the massed ranks of fellow Afro-troubadours, however, is the elegant flute of Siberian-born Polina Loubnina. It's not an instrument you hear much in African music these days, yet her restless vapour trails – all the more alluring for their echoes of the far North – make a convincing case for its rehabilitation.

Perhaps the most powerful piece on the album, ‘The System is a Joke, strips the arrangements down to rhythm guitar, percussion and the imploring harmonies of Elemotho and backing vocalist Ermelinda Thataoné, with almost Tracy Chapman-esque results. With lyrics in English and Elemotho's native tongue, Setswana, there's certainly no missing the protest-song message. Similar sentiments are writ large – sometimes too large – upon almost every other song, perhaps most interestingly in ‘A Dose of Reality, wherein Elemotho draws parallels between African and Native American spirituality, liberally sampling the American poet and activist John Trudell. This is an album slightly out of step with the times, perhaps, though no less welcome for that.