Reviews
The Best of Bonga
Listening to this outstanding compilation makes me wonder why ageing singer Bonga isn't more celebrated in English–speaking world music circles....
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Marrabenta Music From Mozambique
It is an unfortunate fact that many of Mozambique’s best musicians live abroad. There are few recording opportunities in the...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Ouled Bambara: Portraits of Gnawa
Caitlin McNally, who produced this CD/DVD package, writes: ‘In early 2005, I headed to Marrakech, Morocco with a camera, a...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Ibokwe
After singing with South African kwaito pioneers Bongo Maffin, Thandiswa Mazwai's 2004 solo debut Zabalaza marked something of a departure....
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Lus
Cesaria Evora may have put the Cape Verde islands on the musical map, but the next generation of artists from...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Bend Skin Beats
Blind singer-guitarist André Marie Tala is a veteran of modern Cameroonian music. Some of his earliest recordings were arranged by...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Swaziland: Songs of the Swazi
Despite the 82–year reign of Sobhuza II – the “hip king’’ eulogised by South African jazzer Abdullah Ibrahim – Swaziland...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
Nha Sentimento
If this was the first ever Cesaria Evora album I’d give it four or five stars. Even after a stroke...
Reviewed in issue Jan/Feb/2010
