Nijerusalem

Like the Vangelis of West Africa, Mamman Sani began recording his electronic keyboard music in the late 1970s and is famed in Niger as the composer of the country’s national anthem. He met the German electronic artist Tropikal Camel at a festival in Uganda where they shared a residency and studio space and over the course of two weeks, laid down the eight instrumental tracks here. Titles such as ‘Touareg Spaceship’ and ‘Fulani UFO’ suggest they intended to create an Afro-futurist fusion combining the rich heritage of tribal tradition and the kosmische ambitions of psychedelic space-rock. Sadly, it doesn’t work and the press release which claims the music ‘encapsulates the cultural essence of the Touareg people’ and the ‘rich cultural heritage of the Fulani’ is risible. As an album of electronic music, it has its appeal, especially on the hypnotic closing track ‘Nomadic (Dub)’. But it doesn’t do what it says on the tin. Caveat emptor.