The One and The Many

Great things are expected of Muntu Valdo, the Cameroonian musician who turned up in London from Paris three years ago and worked hard to get himself noticed. Talent and graft have paid off: the genial guitarist, singer and harmonica player from Douala has become a fixture at WOMAD festivals and played alongside a host of big world names from Manu Dibango to Tony Allen and Richard Bona. He'll be the support act for South Africa's evergreen Grammy-winners Ladysmith Black Mambazo on their forthcoming UK summer tour.

A former law student and student activist, Valdo fronted his own band, Mulema, back home, where his self-styled Sawa blues – powerful vocals, plaintive harp playing and rhythmic guitar-lines – caught the attention of a French producer who encouraged his move to France. This, the highly awaited follow-up to his debut, sees Muntu the maverick really come into his own. The album's ten tracks are by him and no one else but him: he's done all the singing, arranging and production. It's his ability to harness technology and use it to his own organic advantage that really makes him stand out. Multi-layered loops and ambient sound textures conjure the many from the one: entire choirs are built up from powerful solo a capellas and, as on ‘Lemba’ and ‘Musseingl,’ whole funk bands from a single guitar line. While there's variety here – ‘No Mercy’ is pure spill-your-guts blues – everything points back to Africa, where the old jostles with the new.