Republique Amazone

Last year's WOMAD performance by this collective of West African female singers of different generations and traditions was highly praised. The ensuing studio album is helmed by Irish producer Liam Farrell (the ‘Dr L’ of Mbongwana Star fame) and he has stamped his electronic trademark all over it. It feels less collaborative and there is only one track, ‘I Play the Kora’, that includes the entire cast. Yet there are many fine individual moments, prominent among them ‘Dombolo’, a brilliant Congotronics-style setting by Farrell for Angélique Kidjo to strut her mighty stuff on. The dubbed-up Afro hip-hop of ‘La Dame et Ses Valises’, sung by the rising young Nigerian star Nneka, is almost as good and the legendary Malian griot Kandia Kouyaté duets powerfully on two tracks with her young and lesser-known compatriot Rokia Koné, who emerges in many ways as the major voice here, singing with great soulfulness on six of the dozen tracks. Mariam Doumbia (of Amadou & Mariam) makes a brief appearance, as does Inna Modja, a Malian-French singer, who was a victim of female genital mutilation. The project was conceived as a campaign to support victims of violence against women and proceeds from the recording will go to the Panzi Foundation, which provides help for victims of such abuse in Democratic Republic of Congo.