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African releases enchant
Life, John Clewley, Published on 01/02/2022
» The World Beat desk has been inundated with new releases in the past few weeks as record labels begin to get back on track. Three outstanding albums from Africa have been playing regularly on the World Beat sound system: Pape Nziengui's Kadi Yombo (Awesome Tapes From Africa); Rokia Kone and Jacknife Lee's Bamanan (Real World); and the Ano Nobo Quartet's The Strings Of Sao Domingos (Ostinato).
Killer rhythms from the Congo
Life, John Clewley, Published on 06/03/2018
» The influence of Congolese rumba, sometimes called soukous in the Anglophonic world, on East and Southern African music is considerable. You can hear the influence of Congolese guitars on Kenyan, Zimbabwean and Tanzanian popular music. Indeed, in my last column I wrote about how this guitar-based sound had even influenced the music of Orchestra Marrabenta in Mozambique.
Marrabenta, Mozambique's popular groove, is rarely heard
Life, John Clewley, Published on 13/02/2018
» The rise of post-independence popular music in Africa has unleashed a wide array of genres from many regions. A snapshot might show, from North Africa, Algerian Rai music, and street music like shaabi from Egypt; West Africa has gumbe, Malinke music, Tamashek, afrobeat and highlife and mbalax; the Congo region has its rumba Congolais and myriad dance forms, while South Africa has mbaqanga.