Relke Meto

Malawian musician Happy Mphande's Relke Meto opens with the title-track, a percussion-heavy beat that sets the tempo for the rest of the album – a brash, blunt, and unapologetically high-pitched presentation reflective of the gaudy nature of the country's music. While the music is nothing out of the ordinary, it is the artist's soaring vocals and the angelic backing vocals that make this album worth listening to. The artist's vocal prowess comes alive in the rhumba-influenced ‘Mchalu Wine’ as well as the melodic ‘Tizenge’ and ‘Wapambana’. Sadly, Mphande does himself an injustice as he does not show off his vocal gifts, as half of the six songs on Relke Meto are instrumentals with little or no vocal accompaniment.

The artist is inspired by vimbuza, a spiritual dance from northern Malawi. But with its intricate musical patterns, only a handful of Malawian musicians have successfully managed to take the genre to the mainstream. Sadly, with this album, Happy Mphande's name will not be getting added to that list.