In this week’s selection: the new album from emblematic Sahrawi culture activist Aziza Brahim, Khuli Chana’s third studio album, the second EP from afrobeat prince Ghetto Boy and many more to hear…
Sahari
Aziza Brahim
The Saharawi singer-songwriter and activist Aziza Brahim returns with her fifth album on Glitterbeat Records following the critically acclaimed, Abbar El Hammad, released in 2016. Politics remains intensely personal for Brahim. She lives in Spain, in exile, and the music for Sahari was written there. While her songs remain grounded in her homeland, her gaze is increasingly global. To achieve that, Brahim worked with acclaimed Spanish artist Amparo Sánchez of Amparanoia on the album’s pre-production, and the collaboration has made a transformative impact on the music.
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Read our interview here
Zoodo
Art Melody
Originally from Burkina Faso, Art Melody is a unique rapper in his genre. He draws as much inspiration from his mother’s griotic incantations, as from the 1970’s afro-soul or even from the best New-York rap (Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan). Zoodo (which can be translated as ‘friendship’, ‘One hand-stretched to the other’) is a tribute to the golden hip hop era. The album is fully produced by French beatmaker Redrum.
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Chinal Ka 1973 – 1995
Erick Cosaque
The Parisian label Heavenly Sweetness focuses on the career of Guadeloupean singer Erick Cosaque with Chinal Ka, a compilation of Cosaque best work between 1973 and 1995. Erick Cosaque is a major figure in gwo ka, he managed to avoid being part of any institutional system – no label, no alliance, no funding. His voice, one of the strongest in that genre, has been significant since the early ’70s by restoring the original spontaneous and rebellious spirit present in gwo ka with artistic creations starting in the age of vinyl and continuing in the digital era.
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Me VS You
Ghetto Boy
The MAPA Group artist is rapidly finding his way and place in the Ghanaian and UK afrobeats scene. This new EP confirms it. Based between Accra and Hackney in London, Ghetto Boy is already known as the “Afrobeats Prince” and his second EP, Me VS You, is an exciting and pivotal project for him, honoring his home continent and portraying his determination to steer the narrative by imprinting his background onto his music.
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Read our interview of Ghetto Boy
Planet Of The Have Nots
Khuli Chana
The 13-track Khuli Chana’s third studio album has arrived. The rapper had been quiet for the last couple of years without dropping any projects. He has decided to break his silence with a hot new album titled Planet of the Have Nots. It includes the single “Ishu,” which was released a few months ago and features the SA rapper Cassper Nyovest.
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Cuba Cuba
Manuel Anoyvega Mora
After more than 20 years playing with the great names of the Latin music like Ernesto “Tito” Puentes or Azuquita y su Melao, Manuel Anoyvega Mora releases his debut album as a leader, Cuba Cuba. This album is a legacy to his professional career debuted 40 years ago in his native Cuba, and more beyond that, to his life.
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Kinshasa 1978: Originals & Reconstructions
Various artists
Crammed Discs presents a bi-dimensional album of unreleased recordings from four bands of Kinshasa made in 1978. The 80-minute long album is split into two parts. On the one hand, the original recordings made during the sessions in 1978. On the other hand, the reworks made by Martin Meissonnier, the legendary producer who worked with Fela Kuti, King Sunny Adé and Tony Allen among others.
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Habanera
Yilian Canizares
The latest album of singer and violinist Yilian Cañizares fully expresses her Afro-Cuban and jazz influences. She pulls into her eclectic musical world, navigates between tradition and modernity, lyricism and spellbinding rhythms. Yilian loves to go back to her Cuban roots but refuses to be locked into stereotypes.
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