Reviews

Dzen

Adjiri Odametey

There are many projects that aim for a pan-African sound; they usually rely on collaboration between different cultures. Not for...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Remember

Kamatana

This is a style of music that has received little exposure outside of the Nyanza province in western Kenya. It...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Lamwong: Freedom Fighters

Acholi Machon

The musicians from the Acholi tribe in remote northern Uganda were recorded on Lamwong by producer Ian Brennan, known for...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako

Les Ambassadeurs

What a joy it must have been to see and hear Les Ambassadeurs in the mid-70s, playing in the motel...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess

VARIOUS ARTISTS

This album takes its title from a 19th-century autobiography by Emily Ruete. Born Sayyida Salme, the daughter of the Sultan...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Mali All Stars: Bogolan Music

VARIOUS ARTISTS

You might have thought there were already enough compilations of Malian music in the world. But this well presented box-set...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Éthiopiques 29: Mastawesha

Daniel Techane

These two latest releases from Buda are in some respects polar opposites, though connected by a common theme. One is...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Wicked Leaders

King Ayisoba

Ghanaian popular music is currently dominated by both religious music and the genre known as hiplife. King Ayisoba is well-known...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Dernier Appel

Tiken Jah Fakoly

The singer Tiken Jah Fakoly is next in line to Alpha Blondy on the somewhat specialised Ivory Coast reggae scene,...

Reviewed in issue June/2026

Maghreb Lyon

VARIOUS ARTISTS

The role of Paris and Marseille in the production of North African music in France is well documented: less so...

Reviewed in issue June/2026