Samputu Testimony From Rwanda (Multicultural Media MCM 4003, 2004) It’s been a decade since the genocide in Rwanda, a massive tragedy that the United States…
Expert Testimony
Category: Album reviews
Hit It
Joji Hirota / Pete Lockett – Taiko to Tabla (ARC Music EUCD 1856, 2004) Paoli Mejias – Mi Tambor (Paoli Mejias JMCD/2004-1, 2004) Since percussion…
A Cakewalk on the Latin Side
Charanga Cakewalk Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge (Triloka/Artemis ARTCD-256, 2004) Being a hardcore fan of global music shouldn’t preclude a person from possessing a working…
The Real Revolutionaries
Tinariwen Amassakoul (World Village 468026, 2004) A lot of musicians fancy themselves rebels and freedom fighters. The members of Tinariwen truly were. Their heritage is…
Feasts of Fusion
Lo’Jo – ce soir la… (World Village 468027, 2004) Global Village Orchestra – Globalistics (Random Chance Records RCD-19, 2004) As vague as a phrase like…
Potent SeneRap with a feminist message
Alif Dakamerap (Out here records 2004) It’s a fact that hip-hop & rap has taken hold in a big way in West Africa. Notably…
Leave Your Grass Skirt at Home
Ooklah the Moc – Rearrange Your Positive (Ghetto Circus Records CG2, 2004) The Lambsbread – Sing Praise (Adin-nin Records ADOO3, 2003) Much as some people…
Tumbling oud, rumbling basslines
Azzddine Ouhnine with Bill Laswell – Massafat (Barraka Recordings/Barbarity 023, 2004) I can’t honestly claim to be totally enamored of some releases on the Barraka…
Bel, Bel…
M’Bilia Bel – Belissimo (Sterns AfricaTCD1098, 2004) M’Bilia first came to prominence in the 1970s as vocal sidekick and wife of the top Zairian [Congolese]…
Ecstatic Voices
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain, The Very Best of (Wrasse Records WRASS 139, 2004) There can be no doubt that the collective voices…