2023-09-28 14:51:23
Jbal Rsas
Deena Abdelwahed
Titled in homage to Jebel Ressas, the second highest mountain near Tunis, the second album by Tunisian DJ and producer DJ Abdelwahed is just as dizzying. Conceived as an electronic and techno exploration of the different musical trends of what is commonly called the “Arab World”, the producer mixes traditional drum lines and dance rhythms with the electronic production elements that have made her trademark: basics techno, futuristic synthesizers, percussive drums and apocalyptic atmosphere. The artist’s voice provides a more organic contrast and explores themes such as identity, storytelling and experimentation on tracks like “Each day” or “Violence for free”. Finally, we will note the strong nods to mahraganat, this electronic music from the Egyptian streets which has become “the most listened to in the country”, banned by the conservative government. A fantastic picture of what “post-Arab club music” represents.
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Viral Wreckage
AUNTY RAYZOR
After the popular success of “Kuku Corona”, all that remained was to transform the essay for Nigerian rapper AUNTY RAYZOR. Challenge won hands down with Viral Wreckage (“viral destruction”), which, as its name suggests, pushes the artist’s supercharged energy even further. To achieve his vision, Bisola Olugbenga, his real name, brought together a crack team capable of exploring the most dynamic facets of the global afro-club sphere: Japanese veteran Scotch Rolex, carioca funk producer DJ Cris Fontedofunk, the Nigerian singer and producer Slimcase, or even Kabeaushé and his Kenyan future-pop. The result, although experimental and multifaceted, remains coherent, and this is the prowess of the project: at no time is the identity of the rapper from Lagos distorted. His lyrics in Yoruba and his incendiary placements remain as explosive as in his beginnings, and even include successful nostalgic forays on pieces like “Fall Back” or “You are not worthy of my love”.
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Afro Futuristic Dreams
Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids
Nearly 40 years of albums and concerts, and Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids still have stories to tell us. Afro Futuristic Dreams, the Chicago band’s first album in three years, came together between San Francisco and London, perhaps explaining the complex sonic additions to the group’s usual Afro-jazz sound. “ At the end of 2020, I decided to compose the first in a series of scores to take the sound of The Pyramids to new territories “, explains Ackamoor. “ Recording was a complex process involving numerous musicians and singers across two different time zones [et] required many years of preparation “. An epic new work, which explores the past, the future and the urgency of the present, the pieces evoking themes as broad as ancestrality, police violence and missing loved ones.
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Black Classical Music
Yussef Dayes
It took more than 15 years of career for English drummer, producer and composer Yussef Dayes to release his first solo album. Accustomed to high-level collaborations, both in jazz and in other registers (afrobeats with Wizkid, rap with Pa Salieu, R&B with Kali Uchis), his Black Classical Music project reflects the rich new generation of jazz UK, resolutely inspired by the groove and sounds of Afrobeat, Afro-Caribbean music and hip-hop, and not fond of musical classifications. The “black classical music” that the album attempts to describe actually comes from a questioning by the drummer: what is jazz? His answer : ” music that is constantly evolving and whose potential is unlimited […], le groove, le feeling, […] spontaneity, […] melodies for the soul and spirit, bass for the heart “. Mixing all these slogans and mixing influences, the album oscillates between jazz, dancehall, Cuban music and funk, and highlights guests as prestigious as Chronixx, Shabaka Hutchings, Tom Misch and Masego.
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Congo Guitar
Dust Decula
A veteran of legendary rumba groups like Orchestra Maquis, Kahanga “Vumbi” Dekula made news in 2019 with the album Opika by the Dekula band, released by the Swedish label Sing-A-Song Fighter. Karl Jonas, founder of the structure, had long dreamed of a solo album from the guitarist, which sounds like “ an orchestra all on its own “. This is done with Congo Guitar, recorded in two days in Stockholm, on which Dekula, one-on-one with his guitar, has fun and sometimes interacts with a drum machine, a bit of piano, a banjo or a bass melodica. Virtuoso music, optimistic and carefree, which can be summed up in the words of the artist himself: “ listening to soukous music makes you happy to be alive, and makes you want to dance no matter what ».
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Sahel
Bombino
Five years later Outan iconic album by the Nigerian guitarist that was even nominated for a Grammy Award, Bombino returns with Sahel, recorded in Casablanca, Morocco. While the artist is known for being the ambassador of “Tuareg blues”, we find in this new album numerous hybridizations with other styles, such as reggae in certain rhythms (“Si Chilan”, “Ayo Nigla”). , or the rock in the electricity of certain pieces (“Darfuq”, “Tazidert”). The themes of the different songs alternate between political messages, such as the call for Tuareg unity in “Aïtma”, and personal experience, like the song “Mes amis” and its dedication to the Azel inn in Agadez.
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Wolves of Africa Part. 2
James BKS
Declaration of love to the African continent and its descendants, Wolves of Africa Part 1, released in 2022, aimed to “ to enlighten adults about the African population and culture “. Unveiled in September, the second part of James BKS’s project is also part of this mission. The producer turned rapper once again accentuates the presence of instruments and samples of African and Afro-diasporic music, skillfully mixing them with his resolutely hip-hop musical identity, gained by working alongside artists like Akon, P. Diddy and Booba . Links between Europe, the Americas and Africa, which echo the artist’s experiences, are created throughout the songs, while the rapper invites stars from the continent like Yemi Alade or Angélique Kidjo as well as the artists diasporic Jok’air, Santana or Danitsa.
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I will say
Idriss Soumaoro
The album of a mature artist who returns to his roots after touring the world, I will say is also a declaration of love from Idrissa Soumaoro to Diré, this Malian town where he met his wife and where his first daughter was born. No big surprise on this title, when we know that Mali is precisely at the center of this work: it is of course on the kamalen n’goni, the balafon and the calabashes that the voice of the singer-songwriter resonates here, accompanied of course by guitars and drums. In these ten songs, where we feel the influences of blues, salsa or rumba, Soumaoro talks about his education, his travels and the different experiences of his rich musical (and personal) career. A nostalgic memory without melancholy of Mali in the 1970s, which also sounds like a message of hope in view of the current national context.
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Inventor Vol. 1
DJ Znobia
At the end of the 1990s, DJ Znobia, born Sebastião Lopes, embarked on the creation of a new genre, attempting to capture the supercharged energy of the city of Luanda which was then entering its last decade of civil war. Many sleepless nights in front of Fruity Loops, combined with a sensitivity for dance, gave birth to a new type of music that would take the Portuguese-speaking world by storm in a few years: kuduro. The innovative use of drum machines, synthesizers and comedic vocals quickly made Znobia one of the leading producers and pioneers of the genre, leading him to collaborate with Buraka Som Sistema or MIA Ugandan label Nyege Nyege Tapes dipped into the artist’s archives of 700 titles and produced four compilations. To listen almost like a historical piece, the 11 titles of Vol. 1 are a fascinating return to the very first pieces of Angolan digital musical modernism, which has since gone well beyond the limits of DJ Znobia’s computer.
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Forawlene
Samba Peuzzi
On Forawlene, Dakar golden boy Samba Peuzzi continues to explore his resolutely Senegalese interpretation of modern hip-hop. Accompanied by his partner Karabalik, his scientific blend of mbalax and sabar rhythms with trap-influenced beats shines on tracks like “Pull in wrew” and “Forawleine”, while he does not hesitate to delve into sounds more mainstream afropop and dancehall on “Khana nga bagn” or “Do xool”. This sought-after balance is at the heart of the young rapper’s vision; here is what he told PAM in February: “ The elderly like Youssou Ndour, Baaba Maal, Ismail Lô […] showed us that it’s possible, they made sounds entirely in French, […] sounds where they mixed mbalax with pop and other rhythms, so it’s this idea that we’re going to try to capture: imposing a new type of music like the Nigerians did, something new globally. »
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Pan African Rockstar
Lady Donley
Merging the class of alté with the afrobeat spirit of Fela, the hip-hop egotrip with rock’n roll guitars, Lady Donli finally reveals her multiple facets in a second high-energy album. The 12 tracks presented here are the singer’s rebellion, tackling police brutality (“Nothing2something”), the hypocrisy of the music industry (“Industreets”), her complicated situation as a young Nigerian woman (“My ability”), and his dream of a united African continent (“Comme ci comme ça”). She is joined by three other African rebels, Pierre Kwenders, Obongjayar and his group Lagos Panic, spreading her message to London, Canada and the Congo. “ No easy to be a Pan African rockstar » (« it’s not easy being a pan-African rockstar “), but Lady Donli seems to do it without making too much effort.
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