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Reviews

Review of Nemo

Nemo

Kadialy Kouyate

Top of the World

KK Sound Archive

Rating: ★★★★

Kadialy Kouyate is a Longtime London-based kora player. A maestro of the West African 21-string harp-Lute, he is also a...

Reviewed in issue July/2020

Review of Tombouctou

Tombouctou

Al Bilali Soudan

Clermont Music

Rating: ★★★

If you Like your desert blues raw and unmediated and think Tinariwen are over-produced, then AL Bilali Soudan is for...

Reviewed in issue July/2020

Review of Kwetu

Kwetu

Fadhilee Itulya

Naxos World

Rating: ★★★★

This is the debut from an extremely versatile singer and guitarist from Kenya. Fadhilee Itulya's music is a modern fusion...

Reviewed in issue July/2020

Review of Kaloli

Kaloli

Nihiloxica

Top of the World

Ciammed Discs

Rating: ★★★★★

Kampala has an insatiable sense of groove. While neighbouring capital Kinshasa is better known for its industrial mix of percussion...

Reviewed in issue July/2020

Review of Jola: Hidden Gnawa Music in Brussels

Jola: Hidden Gnawa Music in Brussels

Jola

Muziekpublique

Rating: ★★★

A label, venue, and performing arts foundation, Muziekpublique's latest release focuses on Brussels’ population of Gnawa musicians, which numbers some...

Reviewed in issue July/2020

Review of Africa Today

Africa Today

Etuk Ubong

Night Dieamei

Rating: ★★★★

Hailed by Seun Kuti as ‘one of the best things to come out of Lagos,’ the trumpeter and composer Etuk...

Reviewed in issue July/2020

Review of Funeral Songs

Funeral Songs

Fra Fra

Glitterbeat Records

Rating: ★

There's a bitter aftertaste to this album. The latest in Glitterbeat's acclaimed Hidden Musics series, it should be an absorbing...

Reviewed in issue June/2020

Review of Alewa

Alewa

Santrofi

Top of the World

Outhere Records

Rating: ★★★★

Ahead of the release of this debut, Accra eight-piece Santrofi tore through the European festival scene with livewire sets. They...

Reviewed in issue June/2020

Review of The Pace Setters

The Pace Setters

Edikanfo

Top of the World

Glitterbeat Records

Rating: ★★★★

In 1981 Brian Eno travelled to Ghana to produce an album by the eight-piece Afro-funk band Edikanfo. Shortly after its...

Reviewed in issue June/2020

Review of Nsie Nsie

Nsie Nsie

Y-Bayani & Baby Naa & The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love

Philophon

Rating: ★★★

Ghanaian singers Y-Bayani and Baby Naa give their spin on African roots reggae on Nsie Nsie. Fusing reggae grooves with...

Reviewed in issue June/2020

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