Reviews
Mutende Mizimu: Vimbuza from Mzimba North
Doctor Kanuska leads her ensemble in the traditional vimbuza healing trance dance ritual. As a child she was diagnosed by...
Reviewed in issue April/2021
Can You Feel It?
Last year the excellent Canadian crate-digging label We Are Busy Bodies reissued Armitage Road, a 1970 album by South African...
Reviewed in issue April/2021
For(e)ward
The dynasty continues with the debut from Omorinmade Kuti, grandson of Fela and son of Femi – but with a...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
Stop the Hate
Femi Kuti's last album, 2018's One People One World, was disappointing; it lacked the bite of earlier recordings and sounded...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
Obi Agye Me Dofo
From the golden age of Ghanaian highlife, this rare album from 1977 is a bit of a gem. Hailing from...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
Mutanuka and Syasiya
Crispin Mutanuka & Edwin Syasiya
The silimba (xylophone) and kanimba (thumb piano) both appeared on the splendid four-CD box set Luangwa to Livingstone (reviewed in...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
Udondolo
It is unsurprising that black South African music in recent years has lacked the game-changing potency it enjoyed when soundtracking...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
Back to Soweto
Umsakazo Records is a UK-based label making a mark with lovingly reissued vintage township jive and mbaqanga from the likes...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
Kukaya Bili
An exceptional recording of traditional ‘trance’ music in the northern Malawi vimbuza style. The seven tracks are examples of healing...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
The Rough Guide to Cape Jazz
The term ‘Cape jazz’ was apparently first used as recently as 1993 as the title of a compilation album on...
Reviewed in issue March/2021
