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Reviews

Review of Assouf

Assouf

Toumastine

Toumastine

Rating: ★★★★

It has been two decades since desert blues music first stepped onto the international stage, and although the world still...

Reviewed in issue January/February/2022

Review of Essiebons Special 1973-1984: Ghana Music Power House

Essiebons Special 1973-1984: Ghana Music Power House

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Analog Africa

Rating: ★★★★

The recently departed Ghanaian producer and label-owner Dick Essilfie-Bondzie was digitising his recording vaults right up until his death, discovering...

Reviewed in issue January/February/2022

Review of The Best of Vis-A-Vis in Congo Style

The Best of Vis-A-Vis in Congo Style

Vis-A-Vis

Top of the World

We Are Busy Bodies

Rating: ★★★★

Earlier this year Songlines reviewed the reissue of Obi Agye Me Dofo, a rare 1977 album from the golden age...

Reviewed in issue January/February/2022

Review of Umoyo Wa Muthempire (Live in the Temple)

Umoyo Wa Muthempire (Live in the Temple)

Tonga Boys feat Doctor Kanuska Group

1000Hz Records

Rating: ★★★★

For those in the Malawian countryside, the Tonga Boys from Mzuzu are a band from the big city and the...

Reviewed in issue January/February/2022

Review of A to Z

A to Z

Atongo Zimba

Atongo Zimba

Rating: ★★★★

This is Atongo Zimba’s first international release after 14 years and he could not have re-entered the musical fray in...

Reviewed in issue January/February/2022

Review of Tolika Mtoliki

Tolika Mtoliki

The Brother Moves On

Matsuli Music Limited

Rating: ★★★★★

A dozen years after forming as a performance art and music ensemble in Johannesburg, The Brother Moves On releases one...

Reviewed in issue January/February/2022

Review of We Famous

We Famous

Kondi Band

Top of the World

Strut Records

Rating: ★★★★

Having had his career derailed by civil war and Ebola, the blind Sierra Leonean musician Sorie Kondi was reduced to...

Reviewed in issue December/2021

Review of KWEChE

KWEChE

Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno

Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno

Rating: ★★

The nyatiti is an eight-stringed plucked lyre of the Luo people in Kenya. Played in a fast and rhythmic way,...

Reviewed in issue December/2021

Review of Aado

Aado

Kadialy Kouyaté

Naxos World

Rating: ★★★

According to the old Lovin’ Spoonful song, there’s 1,352 guitar pickers in Nashville – a number that is surely dwarfed...

Reviewed in issue December/2021

Review of Shanu

Shanu

Monoswezi

Riverboat Records

Rating: ★★★★

Fifth album from Monoswezi’s highly adventurous fusion of Scandinavian jazz and African roots, Shanu sees the band introducing a new...

Reviewed in issue December/2021

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