A New Day

Few will remember Winston McAnuff’s roots reggae career. The veteran singer has a soulful voice that sounds more like Bobby Womack in its rough-edged emotion than any Jamaican counterpart. French producer François Xavier Bossard, aka Fixi, is better known in his field; his heavily personalised use of the accordion in Afrobeat and hip-hop projects led to employment as an arranger on Tony Allen’s Secret Agent album, a partnership that has been reinstated on A New Day. The credentials of Tony Allen, a genuine contender for the best drummer in the world, go unquestioned. The accordion is such a dominant and emotive sound in itself, but it’s Allen’s percussion that dictates here, with a distinctly Afrobeat authority. Fixi’s accordion hovers in the background like the response in Afrobeat’s call-and-response vocals. All this leaves little room for McAnuff’s reggae cohort, but his modest, all¬embracing persona fits. Raw electric guitar bursts do give the occasional rootsy feel, at times complementing McAnuff’s Caribbean growl like Al Anderson did with Bob Marley. The finished project emerges well polished, a truly original fusion of cultures.