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Reviews

Review of An Angel Fell

An Angel Fell

Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids

Strut Records

Rating: ★★★★

It's appropriate that it's the German Strut label, home of the recent programme of Sun Ra re-releases, that has helped...

Reviewed in issue July/2018

Review of African Scream Contest 2

African Scream Contest 2

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Analog Africa

Rating: ★★★★

It's been a decade since the release of the first African Scream Contest compilation. Much like that fascinating collection of...

Reviewed in issue July/2018

Review of Afrique Mon Désir

Afrique Mon Désir

Laurinda Hofmeyr, Afrique mon Désir Ensemble & Régis Gizavo & #9;

Laurinda Hofmeyr

Rating: ★★★

For more than two decades, Laurinda Hofmeyr has specialised in setting the poetry of her native South Africa to music....

Reviewed in issue July/2018

Review of Né La Thiass

Né La Thiass

Cheikh Lô

Top of the World

World Circuit

Rating: ★★★★★

Remastered and reissued for this year's Record Store Day in April, and now available on vinyl as well as on...

Reviewed in issue July/2018

Review of Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth-Boogie in 1980s South Africa

Gumba Fire: Bubblegum Soul & Synth-Boogie in 1980s South Africa

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Soundway Records

Rating: ★★★★

‘Bubblegum’ was the catch-all term given to Western-influenced popular music in 1980s South Africa, although the term is highly misleading,...

Reviewed in issue July/2018

Review of Bamako Sessions

Bamako Sessions

Invisible System

Riverboat Records

Rating: ★★

Invisible System, aka producer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Harper, is best known for his heavy dub-rock takes on Ethiopian music, drafting...

Reviewed in issue July/2018

Review of Manhã Florida

Manhã Florida

Nancy Vieira

Lusafrica

Rating: ★★★★

Listening to Manhã Florida, it's easy to see why critics have praised Vieira as the finest voice of Cape Verde...

Reviewed in issue June/2018

Review of Live in Bamako

Live in Bamako

Oumar Konaté

Clermont Music

Rating: ★★★

There's a certain emotional urgency that can only be delivered by a live album. Live in Bamako, Oumar Konaté's fourth...

Reviewed in issue June/2018

Review of Tambai

Tambai

Zimbamoto

Creative BC

Rating: ★★★

The group Zimbamoto are led by singer and songwriter Kurai Blessing Mubaiwa, who plays either mbira (thumb piano) or marimba...

Reviewed in issue June/2018

Review of Yene Alem

Yene Alem

Etenesh Wassie & Mathieu Sourisseau

Buda Musique

Rating: ★★★★

The collaboration between Ethiopian singer Etenesh Wassie and the French bass guitarist Mathieu Sourisseau has already yielded one album back...

Reviewed in issue June/2018

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