WEMA

London-based trio Penya set the bar high with last year’s self-titled album, a club-friendly clash of rhythms from Cuba to Tanzania and lyrics delivered in Finnish, Yoruba and Spanish. Now here they are again as WEMA, a collaboration with NYC-based producer Photay (Evan Shornstein) and Tanzania’s Bagamoyo-based Msafiri Zawose – son of the late, great Dr Hukwe Zawose and a leading purveyor of Gogo-fusion, a sound that mixes the zeze (lute) and ilimba (thumb piano) of central Tanzania with modern, sometimes electronic music.

WEMA means ‘Benevolence’ in Swahili, and a spirit of openhearted collaboration is palpable on each of the 13 tracks. Soaring group harmonies grab attention on the eponymous opener, where daubs of electronica and percussive flourishes on sleigh bells and ghatam (clay pot) weave a mystical, even psychedelic spell over all that follows. Most tracks are in two-parts, variations on a theme, the first favouring vocals in Swahili by Zawose, the second in Spanish by Lilli Elina, whose sweet, childlike tones and lyrical references to the likes of palo santo, an aura cleanser, add to the magic. Instrumental combinations find the batá (drum) used in Afro-Cuban Santería ceremonies resonating alongside synths, drum machine, the Moroccan bendir (hand drum) and East African njuga (shakers). Guest trumpeter Yelfris Valdés leads a horn-line around a vibing balafon. There are guitars, organs, cajóns and kick drums. All of it ritualised, delivered with love.