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Reviews

Review of L’Orchestre National Mauritanien

L’Orchestre National Mauritanien

Ahl Nana

Radio Martiko

Rating: ★★★★

A never-before-released record of a once-famous, almost-forgotten group who were the progenitors of their very own style: this album is...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of Ngo Ma

Ngo Ma

IzangoMa

Top of the World

Brownswood Recordings

Rating: ★★★★★

Nostalgic, psychedelic and spiritual, IzangoMa's debut album Ngo Ma is an exceptional ode to our first link to creation: mothers.This...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of Borga Revolution! Ghanaian Dance Music in the Digital Age 1983-1996 (Vol Two)

Borga Revolution! Ghanaian Dance Music in the Digital Age 1983-1996 (Vol Two)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Kalita

Rating: ★★★

By the 1980s Ghana's once vibrant highlife scene was in decline along with the country's economy, and many of the...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983

Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983

Les Abranis

Bongo Joe Records

Rating: ★★★★

Here is another fabulously funky slice of history from Swiss label Bongo Joe; Amazigh Freedom Rock is a compilation from...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of The Berlin Session

The Berlin Session

Dur-Dur Band Int.

Outhere Records

Rating: ★★

In the 1980s, Dur-Dur Band were one of Somalia's biggest groups, in high demand and performing their uniquely Somali disco...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of Sheikhs Shikhats & B’net Chaabi

Sheikhs Shikhats & B’net Chaabi

Sheikhs Shikhats & B’net Chaabi

Zephyrus Records

Rating: ★★★★

This sprawling 18-piece Belgian ensemble combines Sheikhs Shikhats and B’net Chaabi, the former a horn-dominated band fronted by a female...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of Helen Nkume & Her Young Timers Band

Helen Nkume & Her Young Timers Band

Helen Nkume

Dig This Way Records

Rating: ★★★

Helen Nkume was approaching her thirties when she began her musical career in the early 1970s. Before the decade was...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of Aladura Songs Book

Aladura Songs Book

Lekan Babalola

Oyeku Records

Rating: ★★★

Aladura Songs Book finds two-time Grammy Award-winning percussionist Lekan Babalola – Lagos, Nigeria-born and living in his adopted Birmingham (UK)...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of A Message from Mozambique

A Message from Mozambique

Juju | JuJu

Strut

Rating: ★★★★★

Fifty years ago, change was brewing. The outrage piqued by US-backed war and civil war in Africa, by racism, injustice...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

Review of This Is Zologo Beat

This Is Zologo Beat

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Makkum

Rating: ★★★★

From the home of kologo music in Ghana's Upper East Region, comes a new dance compilation innovated by one of...

Reviewed in issue June/2023

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