Reviews

Do You Hear Me?

Batch Gueye

Like Cheikh Lô, Senegal's Batch Gueye is a member of the Baye Fall, the dreadlocked Sufi brotherhood founded by Amadou...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Gerasonobu

Elida Almeida

At the age of 27, Elida Almeida is a high achiever: Gerasonobu is her fourth album and she is considered...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Makgona Tsohle Reggi

Makgona Tsohle Band

The resurrection of Makgona Tsohle Reggi – recorded in 1970 – reconnects modern listeners to an experimental fusion of mbaqanga,...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Mersi

Christine Salem

Réunionese singersongwriter Christine Salem should really be a huge international star by now. But despite a clutch of solid releases...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Sira Kura

Faratuben

Farafin means ‘black’ and toubabou ‘white’ – hence we have Faratuben, a multicultural band in which instead of the usual...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

El Hal/The Feeling

Electric Jalaba

El Hal/The Feeling is the first album in five years from the Anglo-Moroccan septet, led by the gimbri and voice...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Kologo

Alostmen

Stevo Atambire is already a big deal in Ghana, a streetboy-turned-pop star whose local releases are full of synths and...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Planting Trees

Kandiafa

Abdoulaye Koné, aka Kandiafa, is part of a long line of Mande griots including great-grandfather Djigui and his uncle, Mama...

Reviewed in issue April/2021

Mutende Mizimu: Vimbuza from Mzimba North

Doctor Kanuska Group

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?

The Drive

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