Reviews
Shona Ritual Music
The mbira or lamellophone has one of the world's most hypnotic and transcendental sounds. Often called the thumb piano, a...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sept/2013
Freedom Cry:Condemned Choirs
More than 550 men and women sit on death row in Uganda's prisons, condemned for crimes that include not only...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sept/2013
Ambush
Having first cut his teeth as a percussionist in Remmy Ongala's legendary Orchestre Super Matimila, Ambush is Saidi Kanda's first...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sept/2013
Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings From the 1970s and 1980s
After presumably running out of crates to dig through in West Africa for Soundway's splendid series of 70s archive recordings...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sept/2013
Hotel Univers
Jupiter & Okwess International
For someone releasing his debut album, Jupiter Bokondji – the self-styled ‘rebel general’ of Congolese music – has been around...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sept/2013
Gnawa London
Best known in the UKasa musical collaborator, in particular with Gnawa-indie band Electric Jalaba, Simo Lagnawi springs a few surprises...
Reviewed in issue Aug/Sept/2013
Mazembe Mazembe @ 45rpm Vol 1
Orchestra Super Mazembe may be one of the most influential bands in African music. They were one of the first...
Reviewed in issue July/2013
Mukunguni: New Recordings from Coast Province, Kenya
Mukunguni, a village in the Coast Province of Kenya, next to the Indian Ocean, is home to the Mijikenda tribe....
Reviewed in issue July/2013
Ethiopiques 28: Great Oromo Music
The latest from Buda Musique is a vital instalment from the seemingly limitless supply of Ethiopian music from yesteryear. Ali...
Reviewed in issue July/2013
