Reviews
Zanzibara 7: Sikinde vs Ndekule
This fine addition to the confusingly titled Zanzibara series focuses on two of the leading bands from the astonishingly fertile...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2013
Alafia
You wait 15 years for a new Sidi Touré album and then, like a fleet of bush taxis, three come...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2013
Malagasy Blues Song
Music and spirituality are intertwined in Madagascar. Lala Njava learned her warm, sonorous singing technique from the resident shaman in...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2013
Habibi: Algérie de ma Jeunesse
What a charming CD this is, evoking an alluring world of white linen jackets, pencil moustaches, fez hats and nightclubs...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2013
Souleymane
Debademba consists of singer Mohamed Diaby, who comes from a Malian griot family and was raised in Abidjan in the...
Reviewed in issue Nov/Dec/2013
Bwati Kono Vol 1
The death of Lobi Traoré in 2010 at the age of 49 deprived the Malian music scene of a blues...
Reviewed in issue October/2013
Mon Pays
After three fine solo studio albums and his imaginative collaboration with the Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel, Touré has surely earned...
Reviewed in issue October/2013
Cherie Na N’ga
Born Belangeni Musumbu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bel was raised in Kinshasa but is now resident in London....
Reviewed in issue October/2013
Treasures of Algiers Chaâbi
Much like the traditional fado of Lisbon or the rebetika of Piraeus, chaâbi is often described as being the blues...
Reviewed in issue October/2013
Kamélé Yeleen
Moussa Pantio Diabaté & Baragnouma
Moussa Pantio Diabaté is a balafon (xylophone) player from Burkina Faso. With the help of Arts Council funding he was...
Reviewed in issue October/2013
