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Reviews

Review of Anarouz

Anarouz

3MA

Top of the World

Mad Minute Music

Rating: ★★★★

It has been a decade since the three master musicians of 3MA – Ballaké Sissoko (kora), Driss El Maloumi (oud)...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of Sycophantic Friends

Sycophantic Friends

Atamina

Makkum

Rating: ★★★

Attentive listeners may have first heard Atamina on the 2016 compilation This is Kologo Power!, on which he appeared alongside...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of Lala Belu

Lala Belu

Hailu Mergia

Awesome Tapes from Africa

Rating: ★★★★

After reissuing three of Hailu Mergia's classic albums to great success, Awesome Tapes From Africa have taken the veteran Ethiopian...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of World Affairs

World Affairs

Mpho Majiga

Africantunz Records & Promotions

Rating: ★★

Mpho Majiga is a South African gospel singer with a disco vibe. This is his fifth album and World Affairs,...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of Mes Racines

Mes Racines

Sabry Mosbah

Accords Croisés

Rating: ★★★★

The son of Slah Mosbah, a celebrated singer among Tunisia's marginalised black community from the southern desert lands on the...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of Leeroy Presents: Fela is the Future

Leeroy Presents: Fela is the Future

Leeroy

BMG

Rating: ★★

A French hip-hop and beatboxing hero from the early 2000s, Leeroy is at the controls here as curator and producer...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of Tantabara

Tantabara

Tal National

Fat Cat

Rating: ★★★★

Recorded with minimal equipment in a makeshift studio in their hometown of Niamey, the third international release from Niger's Tal...

Reviewed in issue April/2018

Review of Ballébé: Calling All Africans

Ballébé: Calling All Africans

Hama Sankare

Clermont Music

Rating: ★★★★★

If a solo album by a veteran Malian percussionist whose only instrument is the hollow gourd calabash doesn't sound over-enticing,...

Reviewed in issue March/2018

Review of #1

#1

Guy One

Philophon Records

Rating: ★★★★

Growing up herding goats and cows in a remote area of northern Ghana, Guy One had no schooling, taught himself...

Reviewed in issue March/2018

Review of Pressure to Pleasure

Pressure to Pleasure

Femi & the InRhythms

Joyful Noise

Rating: ★★★

Recorded live in studios in Lagos and London by a sprawling Afrobeat band led by bassist and vocalist Femi Sofela,...

Reviewed in issue March/2018

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