Uhamiaji

When a press release states that an album will redefine the boundaries of whatever style it purports to represent, you take those words with a pinch of salt. So it's a pleasant surprise when, with each new track on Uhamiaji it becomes more apparent that not just Tanzania's traditional music, but contemporary African music as a whole has been advanced by what you're hearing. What's so refreshing here is that you can detect a sophisticated jazz sensibility alongside the usual tired fusion formula of combining traditional rhythms with electronic and hip-hop flavours.
Msafiri Zawose's father, Hukwe (who died in 2003), was part of Peter Gabriel's Real World roster during the label's 1980s and 90s golden age. The influence he had on his son is also apparent here, and producer Sam Jones has done a superlative job of retaining the spirit, dynamism and physical heft of Msafiri's music while subtly imposing more light and shade, without losing any of the original music's rhythmic complexity – often the first thing to go to the wall in such projects. Yet nothing that's been added is superfluous; everything brings more atmosphere and nuance to the music.