Popular music arranged for the bagpipes and recorded live in concert by the African Skye Pipe Band along with Celtic rockers, Ceol G'Brae, and the combined choirs of Jeppe High School for Girls and King Edward VII school. Traditional tunes like Danny Boy sit alongside great screen themes like that from Star Wars. Pink Floyd's great psychedelic hit from the seventies, Wish You Were Here, and Johnny Clegg's Africa are just two more great songs in this interesting collection.

Fresh and exciting African songs and music. Music with traditional marimbas, hosho (shakers), ngoma (drums), nyunga nyunga (thumb piano), sabar (drum), talking drum, calabash, djembe as well as accordion, sax, guitar, bass guitar.

Track Listings
Side: A
1 : Ki moun ou ye
2 : Nan kò mwen
3 : Fil
4 : Kouti yo
5 : Kenbe m
Side: B
1 : Renmen m plis
2 : Nwa
3 : Ti nèg
4 : Kanpe anba solèy
5 : Zetwal

The second album from Grammy-nominated Haitian-American singer and composer Nathalie Joachim, Ki moun ou ye, is available via the partnership between Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records.Across the record’s ten intimate, original songs, Joachim ponders its title’s question: “Who are you?” Inspired by the remote Caribbean farmland that her family continues to call home after seven generations, Ki moun ou ye travels deeper into the Haitian heritage introduced on Joachim’s Grammy-nominated 2019 New Amsterdam release, Fanm d’Ayiti.Performed in English and Haitian Creole, the work examines the richness of the human voice—an instrument that brings with it DNA, ancestry, and identity—in a vibrant tapestry of Joachim’s voice and intricately sampled vocal textures, underscored by Joachim’s flute playing, violin from Yvonne Lam (Eighth Blackbird), and drums by Jason Treuting (Sō Percussion). Ki moun ou ye explores Joachim’s personal history while highlighting her voice’s role as a tool for survival, healing, preservation of self, fellowship, and an affirmation of freedom.

Track Listings
1 : Kourouni
2 : Tou Dibile
3 : Tjefouroule
4 : Djankonia
5 : Nianimanjougou
6 : Sokono Woulouni

Nahawa Doumbia is one of Mali's defining vocalists of the last four decades. Her work journeys through progressive stages of musical evolution and sonic vogues, making it hard to summarize or even comprehend. She's played a part in popular music since the late '70s, as her version of Wassoulou music developed from vocals-and-guitar duo into full-scale touring bands packing a bombastic, electrified punch. As Doumbia puts it, "My music has changed multiple times to this day... The more I progressed in my musical career, the more instruments I have had accompany my songs." Awesome Tapes From Africa will release Doumbia's debut recording La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 1 this August, building on the success of the label's first-ever reissue back in 2011, Doumbia's La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3. This seminal classic, which is still sought-after in Mali today, will finally be available for the first time internationally with remastered audio on LP, CD, Tape and Digital formats. The recording looks back to the beginning of Doumbia's long career, when she was performing in a simple voice and acoustic guitar format. This was before she added bass and drums, and finally the electric guitar and synths for which she became known more recently. Released in 1981 by the excellent Côte d'Ivoire-based AS Records, the singer was barely 20 years old when it was recorded. She was accompanied by her future husband N'Gou Bagayoko on acoustic guitar, whose style echoes the nimble runs of traditional kamele n'goni players. The stark simplicity of this highly intimate recording- the audible room acoustics, the occasionally in-the-red vocals-do not obscure the mature strength of her voice. On Vol 1 Doumbia performs her songs with the tenacity and hunger of a young artist on the cusp. "When I think about it, first, I am reminded of how long ago it was. It's one of the albums that I love most because it reminds me of my youth. I was so young and my voice was light and joyful. I still listen to some of those songs today. I am really proud of that first album because that's where it all began. It shows me how far I've come in my personal and artistic life; it gives me the courage I need to keep going forward, and makes me appreciate all the years of dedication and hard work I put into my musical career." These early songs are rhythmically built around Bagayoko's sensitive guitar, as his fingers brush the fretboard and gently outline the melodies. Although this record predates the singer's use of percussion, the driving skeletal didadi rhythm is apparent in the songs. Later albums like Vol 3 further prioritize her hometown didadi beat and the result made her famous.

MORE VINTAGE!, volume 22 in the brilliant ETHIOPIQUES series, collects recordings from Ethiopian pop superstar Alemayehu Eshete made during the early 1970s. In addition to showcasing Alemayehu, this set shines a light on one of the key behind-the-scenes figures in Ethiopian pop, organist and arranger Girma Beyene. Something of Booker T. to Alemayehu's Otis Redding, it's Girma who provides the tight-as-a-drum funk and jazz grooves over which Alemayehu lets his stunning vocals glide. Although this is text-book Ethiopian pop from the golden era, listeners will hear the obvious influences of American soul and R&B, making for a riveting and illuminating lesson in the depths of the African musical diaspora.

The second entry in Buda Musique's overview of the Tanzanian-centered music scene covers seven popular acts who recorded for the Mzuri label, run by M.J. Shah, who also recorded the bands in a simple but clear and effective one-microphone set-up in a warehouse behind the shop he owned in the major port of Mombasa. As the subtitle indicates, the range covers about ten years of time, with focus on a style called taarab, explained in detailed fashion in the liner notes, noting its origins as a mix of African vocal and rhythmic styles mixed with instruments from many locations, as well as other influences that notably include Indian movie musicals. Another Indian stringed instrument has a beautiful, key role on many of the songs -- the tashkota -- first known in Japan before gaining popularity in the subcontinent, then carried to Mombasa from there. Shah claimed to have electrified the tashkota when recording groups to better capture the haunting, delicate tones it produces, and on many songs throughout it has a well-deserved lead role, somewhere between a high-pitched sitar and a balalaika. Taarab songs have a slow, almost seductive feeling to them, and the elegant singing of such figures as Matano Juma and Ali Mkali (the latter's "Masikini Macho Yengu," or "My Poor Eyes," has a particularly sad beauty to it, appropriate to the lovelorn lyrics) match the music very well. Arrangements can be busy but are rarely high-speed or hyperactive; if anything, this feels like an equivalent of bossa nova for another coast, delicate and reflective rather than party-up songs. Accordion is another prominent instrument on many songs and, mixed with the distinctly Bollywood stylings audible throughout, the disc results in a captivating collage that well deserves a wide listen. ~ Ned Raggett