Reviews

Alefa Madagascar! Salegy, Soukous & Soul from the Red Island 1974-1984

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Another offering from Strut Records' Indian Ocean compilation series, this album of Malagasy songs takes a look at one of...

Reviewed in issue November/2019

Al Hadaoui

Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah

Al Hadaoui was the group Attarazat Addahabia's debut album, recorded in 1972 but for some reason never released. And now...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

Zona Zero

Remna

Remna Schwarz dedicates this album to his father José Carlos Schwarz, a legendary figure in Bissau-Guinean culture as a poet,...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

Sissala Goddess

Wiyaala

The music formerly known as ‘world’ is in need of new stars, and in Wiyaala it may have found one....

Reviewed in issue October/2019

Fongola

KOKOKO!

The most exciting thing about this Kinshasa collective is the extraordinary alchemy by which they turn pure building blocks of...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

I Love You Inna

Oumar Konaté

Hailing from Gao in northern Mali, Konaté's roots are steeped in the desert blues of the Songhai people. But the...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

#NuNairobi

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Not just the banner for a new wave of artists, creatives and entrepreneurs that are proud to call the Kenyan...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

Amadjar

Tinariwen

Following the takeover of their homeland in northern Mali by militant Islamists in 2012, Tinariwen recorded their last two albums...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

Dytomite Starlite Band of Ghana

Dytomite Starlite Band of Ghana

Although the identities of the musicians playing on this album are a complete mystery (such is the joy of old...

Reviewed in issue October/2019

Beating Heart Tanzania (Originals)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

This endearing collection of field recordings is sourced from English ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey's remarkable catalogue of South and Central African...

Reviewed in issue Aug/Sep/2019