FRANCIS BEBEY - African Electronic Music 1975-1982

Long revered by African music aficionados, the late Francis Bebey was Cameroon's renaissance man, a journalist, novelist and musicologist whose zest for life and studied playfulness with language and instrumentation is apparent from the moment opener "New Track" bubbles into being.

"Brought up on Western styles and instruments, and educated at the Sorbonne and NYU, Cameroon's Francis Bebey studied Spanish classical guitar and led jazz bands before finding his way back to African traditional music as a researcher for UNESCO; he was in his forties when he began recording his distinctive brand of Afropop, publishing more than 20 albums before he died, in 2001, at the age of 72. The anthology's title is slightly misleading; this isn't so much 'electronic music' as it is idiosyncratic, border-hopping jazz fusion that happens to use synthesizers and rhythm boxes. But who cares? Whatever you call it, it's brilliant." - SPIN

ATOMIC FOREST - Obsession

Given the abundance of Eastern influence in Western psych-rock, India gives back with a heavy dose of acid-tinged originals and bent covers.

"Atomic Forest’s mix of blistering, fuzzy rock and synth-lead funk inspired collectors the world over to fork over thousands of dollars for original copies of their solitary release, Obsession '77. Part of the interest certainly stemmed from its liberal doses of searing fuzz guitar. Part of it sprung from the oddity of it all: had India, a country that, quite literally, churned out tens of thousands of albums during psych and hard rock’s heyday, only produced this one, lonely psychedelic album? Part of it sprung from the album’s rarity: unknown for years, Obsession '77 suddenly became a top want on every global-rock collector’s short-list." - Now-Again

"We first got wind of Atomic Forest via Academy Records' excellent comp OBSESSION, a brilliant mixing of some of the rarest and most choice psych and funk gems from around the world. The comp opens and closes with two versions of  "Obsession '77" by Atomic Forest, easily one of the most fierce tunes on the record. I've occasionally tried to find more of Atomic Forest, but with out much luck, so it's pretty exciting to see the release of this collection of searing psychedelic funk from various incarnations of Atomic Forest, 1973-77." - Primordial Sounds

KIM JUNG MI - Now

When Light In The Attic compiled Beautiful Rivers And Mountains this past fall, an anthology of tracks led by/produced by/featuring Shin Joong Hyun, many of us on staff here were especially struck by "The Sun," a track featuring the vocals of psych-folk songbird Kim Jung Mi; we're glad to now have the chance to listen to this reissue of Now, Mi's 1973 full-length effort produced by Shin.

"At the dawn of the 1970s, South Korea’s rock music scene was at its zenith. Much of the reason for this was the god-like musical touch of guitar wizard, songwriter, producer, and arranger Shin Joong Hyun. For this album, he took a young girl named Kim Jung Mi, and transformed her from a wallflower student into a folk-psych chanteuse in record time (if Francoise Hardy is the Marianne Faithful of France, then Kim Jung Mi is, I suppose, the Francoise Hardy of Korea)." - Light In The Attic

"Kim Jung Mi's Now is probably one of the oddest albums I've ever heard. That's not because Now sounds especially exotic, though. On the contrary, it's because it doesn't. The point isn't that the album is derivative. It's that it's familiar. When I listen to 'Lonely Heart,' for example, I feel like I'm hearing something for the thousandth time, even though I can't exactly put my finger on where. It's too psych for Sandy Denny, not bluesy enough to be Janis Joplin, not smoky enough for the pop cabaret of Julie London, not over-carbonated enough to be Serge Gainsbourg—but it's somewhere in a world where all those things are on the jukebox." - Splice Today

VA - Big Band Present: Italo Funk Experience

Another excellent entry in Nascente's Experience series. Bene!

"Italian Funk Experience features lost soundtrack gems from cult soundtrack composers such as Piero Piccioni & Piero Umiliani, modal-jazz classics from Lee Konitz & Giovanni Tommaso, twisted Italian funk from the likes of Tony Esposito and super-rare pieces from the cult Italian library music label Rotary, many composed by Italian jazz-legend Amedeo Tommasi.

Big Bang is the production name of Simone Serritella, head honcho of the Italo-jazz re-release label Arision, and under his production name Big Bang, a celebrated jazz-dance producer and favourite of Gilles Peterson." - Demon Music Group

KEREN ANN - 101

Keren Ann is awfully easy to miss in a crowd. With neither the bluster and raw sensuality of a neo-soul belter nor the esoteric, quirky delivery of an indie poster girl, she's hardly one to command your ear immediately. Instead, she's more of the Charlotte Gainsbourg mold—cool to the point of being vaguely flat (both in key and emotion), it's easy for detractors to dismiss her entirely as having a rather underdone quality.

But if one takes a moment to view that 'underdoneness' as instead being understatedness, Ann's stock rises fast. For nothing about her music ever sounds desperate to impress—she goes about her business with a quiet intelligence and tasteful sophistication. The respectful space she gives her listener to either stay and soak in it or simply just get up and walk away may leave her open to abandonment, but it also creates a far stronger bond with those who opt in.

All that said, if an artist as demure as Keren Ann could ever be accused of going for the jugular, it would be on her latest, 101. This disc is by far her most varied in approach, and also boasts both her most poppy and most orchestrally heavy tunes.

Her previous self-titled effort had a minor breakthrough with the hushed, Velvet Underground-style tremor of "Lay Your Head Down"—a terrific song that muted its insistent 4/4 pulse as though it was afraid to be too direct. 101's "My Name Is Trouble", however, has no such reservations, opening the album with a steady, bass-driven groove that is miles away from the tentative beginnings of past efforts like 2003's lovely Not Going Anywhere. Then throughout, Ann is increasingly eager to try out new ways of communicating her thoughtful takes on the woes of love. The haunted commitment of "Run With You"; the tight, palm-muted pop of "Sugar Mama"; the giddy barroom piano of "Blood On My Hands"—all of these display sides of Ann that, while not wildly divergent, are new takes on her normally one-dimensional delivery.

In the end, the furthest askew she ventures is on the album closer and title track. At first, "101" is a fairly straight-forward slice of couture Parisian orch-pop right from the (Serge) Gainsbourg playbook, with Ann counting down from 101 in detached, breathy spoken-word and matching each number to a different item. The items listed are at first rather random, occasionally hitting on a well-known combo ("78 revolutions per minute", for example). But as the countdown nears its conclusion, the iconography suddenly becomes increasingly religious: "12 tribes of Israel", "7 days of creation", "5 books of Moses", "2 tablets of stone" and, finally, "one God". It's a jarring conclusion that not only has one hitting replay again to try and catch an earlier pattern they might have missed, but which also serves as a vivid reminder that part of this singer's mixed lineage is traced back to Israel.

It's a bit of a funny feeling to have such naked proclamation of faith wrapping up an album that is more concerned with examining secular concerns. But then again, it's precisely this sense of boldness that has been lacking from Keren Ann's past efforts. No one's going to confuse her with a protest singer or a confrontational artist, but with 101 she's found a way to stand slightly further out from the crowd while retaining her quiet smarts.

VA - Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia & Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962-72

Soundway strikes again with another mind-blowing Colombia-themed comp, this one purportedly a follow-up to Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes, the set that helped kickstart the current wave of chic for música-costeña. The real follow-up has mysteriously been stuck in limbo for the last couple of years, with release dates coming and going every few months. In the meantime, we have more of a companion piece than a proper follow-up, as this release takes Curro Fuentes as its focus.

Curro was the youngest brother of Antonio Fuentes, big boss of the mighty Discos Fuentes, the label which dominated the Colombian industry and is responsible for shaping the sounds and trends of the country since its founding in the mid 1930s. Curro, 20 years younger than his more famous brother, formed his own label, Discos Curro, and with legendary merecumbé bandleader Pacho Galán he formed the imprint’s house band, Sonora Curro, and embarked on a career that kept the brothers and their respective labels on their toes in a friendly competition to put out the hottest records in Colombia. When Curro set up shop in Bogotá, he established a partnership with the Philips label, becoming artistic director and immediately setting out to work with the Lucho Bermudez. Much of the material comes from Curro’s Bogotá period.

The second main period comes from his return to the Caribbean coast, and features young bands that played the newer salsa sounds in the red-light district of Cartagena, including Los Seven del Swing, and groups led by Clodomiro Montes and Lalo Orozco. The introduction of the electric bass created a massive bottom end that drove the dancers and collectors wild.

Selected by a killer team of Miles Cleret, William Holland (DJ Quantic), Toronto DJ Sean Uppal, and regular liner note writer Roberto Ernesto Gyemant, the set features a wide range of sounds: cumbia, gaita, hard driving porro, salsa, and jamming descargas. It’s a cracking set that’ll warm up any party, and will tide us over quite nicely while we wait for the follow up to Colombia!, apparently slated for an October release. 

(Miles Cleret of Soundway Records will be special guest DJ at the next installment of Turning Point, taking place Sat. April 9th at the Garrison; tickets are $10 at the door only.)

VA - Brazil Bossa Beat! Bossa Nova and the Story of Elenco Records, Brazil

A perfect little label is what Elenco Records was, and in its short lifetime from 1963 to 1966 it produced a massively influential body of work that set new standards for bossa nova and the movements that would follow in its wake. Run by Aloysio de Oliveira, a former A&R man for Odeon and Philips, he started Elenco in direct opposition to the multinationals who despite having amazing artists stopped short of the breathtaking majesty that would set his records apart from theirs. 

After producing 60 records, many of them stone classics of Brazilian music, the label folded after helping launch the careers of Nara Leão, Edu Lobo, MPB-4, Quareto Em Cy, Baden Powell, and others. Because of its relatively finite catalog and remarkably high batting average in terms of quality, it should be recognized as one of the great indie labels, right up there with Studio One, Stax, and Rough Trade.  Unfortunately, Elenco has been largely unknown outside of Brazil. Hopefully this collection by Soul Jazz (the sister set to their equally tremendous and previously-reviewed Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s) will help shed light on this criminally overlooked label.

Elenco first caught my eye in the late '90s, when their iconic black/red/white cover art caught my eye via two albums: Quarteto Em Cy’s self-titled 1966 album and Nara Leao’s 1964 debut. Both albums saw endless airplay at my house and set me off on a years-long obsession with the label (when my wife and I got engaged, we got a high-contrast photo of us and gave it to the designer of our invitation along with a half-dozen of our favourite Elenco covers for him to emulate!).

The care that went into the album covers, designed by Cesar Villela and photographer Francisco Pereira, is echoed in the music on each record. Oliveira’s team of arrangers were retro-modernists, not afraid to use an orchestra regularly but getting them to produce bold and at times outré arrangements. Elenco recordings are also marked by their flawless warmth of production.

The aforementioned albums by Nara Leão and Quarteto Em Cy are represented here. The latter’s "Amaralina" (incorrectly listed as "Amoralina"), with its unforgettable "shkin-deng-deng shkin-deng-dong" refrain, jazzily outdoes The Chordettes with an unexpected and otherworldly midpoint a capella re-harmonization of the first two lines that will blow your mind. Their version of "Canto de Ossanha" is pure harmony vocal heaven—fans of The Free Design, The Beach Boys, and The Beatles need to listen up. Nara Leão, the so-called "Muse of Bossa Nova" (see our review of Bossa Nova And The Rise Of Brazilian Music below), has three tunes from her debut here, including the first version of "Nana", which she snagged before Bola Sete even got a chance to write lyrics for it (she scats the melody instead).

The Brazilians are well known for their love of vocalese refrains, and Edu Lobo, a true giant of Brazilian music for so many reasons, was one of the greatest in this respect. His three featured songs are all part of the canon of '60s Brazilian music (“Reza”, “Upa Neguinho” and “Zanzibar”), and all include famous scat hooks.

This could have easily been a double-disc collection to accommodate more from MPB4 (their version of "Cravo e Canela" is arguably the best ever recorded), Baden Powell (proof that 'guitar virtuoso' and 'tasteful' are not mutually exclusive terms), Sylvia Telles (who established herself as a great singer before marrying Oliveira), and those throwbacks to a previous era who transitioned to the bossa era quite nicely (Lucio Alves, Sergio Ricardo). Then there are those who, probably due to licensing issues, recorded for the label but are not included here (hello, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Dorival Caymmi, Maysa, Maria Bethania, and Sergio Mendez).

This is a flawless set, though, and one that brilliantly follows up on an already great collection of Brazilian bossa nova. An early contender for my top spot for 2011 reissues; do your spirits a favour and pick this one up.

VA - Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s

There have been a million bossa nova compilations released since the toned-down samba form came into existence in the late 1950s. Through the years, it has not been able to shake its perception as a cute and frivolously breezy soundtrack for cocktail parties. This is largely thanks to the disproportionate attention given to one song, "The Girl From Ipanema", and the moderately talented Astrud Gilberto, who happened to be in the studio when her husband was recording the tune with Stan Getz. From there, bossa as we know it became a very west coast cool jazz sound, codified into a 3-3-4-3-3 rhythmic pattern that was never indigenous to bossa in the first place and represented on collections by the same old five songs—you know them well: "Desafinado", "One Note Samba", "Wave", "Chega De Saudade", and of course, that darned "Girl From Ipanema". 

The scene in the 1960s was a lot more interesting than conservative compilers allowed us to know about, until the Acid Jazz scene really started to dig for obscurities in the '80s and '90s, before finally leading to a massive deluge of reissues in the late '90s and early 2000s.  During this time, collections of Brazilian rare grooves focused on the impossibly obscure, often, again, missing out on the narrative of bossa nova as it actually developed in Brazil. 

John Kong, label boss of Do Right Records, referred to this as a "bossa nova 101" collection, while browsing in our shop on one of his regular visits, and he’s right. What is most interesting is how this is, in my mind, the first of its kind to get it right by avoiding the false clichés of the genre while staying clear of the pitfalls of steering too heavily toward the hopelessly obscure. Having spent hundreds of dollars on this stuff before downloading put an end to the goldrush, most of this is familiar to me, but the sequencing, in-depth liner notes, and impeccable tracklisting from Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker make this an essential reissue for collectors and newcomers alike.

One of the key indicators that this would be a solid set was the inclusion of the criminally overlooked Nara Leão, the beautifully fragile singer who arguably invented MPB (the rich open-minded popular music of Brazil of the past 40 years), and was so beloved by the tropicalistas for her forward-looking musical vision that they adopted it as a model for their progressive movement. (In fact, that’s her on the cover of Tropicalia: Ou Panis A Circenis, in a framed portrait held by Caetano Veloso.) Following her 1964 debut on the Elenco label (whose black, white and red iconography predates Jack White's by decades), she never stood still, constantly developing her style and always having the best choice of tunes; after all, her role as the 'muse of bossa nova' (her bourgeois background and spacious Copacabana apartment allowed her to regularly host most of the major figures of the second wave of bossa, where they would workshop their latest compositions and guitar tricks) put her in a position in which she could be the auteur of her artistic development. The same could never be said about Astrud Gilberto. 

Leão’s "Berimbau (Ritmo De Capoeira)" is her only track included, but her influence is all over it, a slightly darker and moodier version of bossa than you might be used to. Edu Lobo, who supported Leão when the bossa scene fractured into a politically progressive wing (represented by Leão and others) and another, more conservative one, shows up here with a version of "Ponteio" that is happily new to me.  He’s also got "Aguaverde", one of his many vocalese tracks. The Technicolor arrangements of Roberto Menescal light up the 5/4 "Inverno", while another track in 5, Wanda Sã’s delicious "Adriana", is a surprising but savvy inclusion. 

Goodness, I could go on and on about this stuff, but I’ll leave you to dig in yourself. I can only hope that this will set off a rash of reissues of originals that are patiently awaiting a second go at it. For now, please enjoy this absolutely essential 2CD package (alternatively available as two separate double-vinyl volumes), made even better if you pick up the eponymous companion oversize book, which documents the fabulous album art that gave a face to the rise of Brazilian music in the 1960s. Once again, Soul Jazz has set the bar high on this one, making this an early contender for best international reissue of the year.  

(Ed. note: We've also just received stock of the single-disc follow-up that supplements/accompanies this set, this time focusing solely on the Elenco roster, titled Brazil Bossa Beat! Bossa Nova and the Story of Elenco Records, Brazil.)

VA - Angola Soundtrack: The Unique Sound Of Luanda 1968-1976

Much in the same way that the Next Stop...Soweto series re-shifted emphasis to the pre-'80s era of South African compilations, Angola Soundtrack seeks to redress the near-complete absence of any form of survey of the former Portuguese colony’s music scene in over a decade. Sure, Luaka Bop put out the respectable Afropea: Telling Stories To The Sea in 1995, which helped to spread the word about artists like Bonga, Waldemar Bastos, and the 'barefoot diva' Cesaria Evora, but in the years since then, collectors of African music have become less interested in the slick studio productions of the '90s and more drawn to the sounds of the classic period of the late '60s and early '70s. No surprise, then, that Analog Africa has stepped up with another platter, holding an edge over their competition by revealing an underrepresented corner of the continent, and not simply cranking out yet another Nigerian or Ghanaian comp (though that’s not necessarily a bad thing!).

Similar to what was happening elsewhere in Africa, Angolans in the period covered by this set were concerned with gaining independence from their colonizers, asserting their African-ness while showing their with-it-ness by taking traditional sounds and instruments and combining them with electric guitars, as well as rhythms from both Cuba (“Mi Cantando Para Ti” by N’Goma Jazz being an obvious example) and their colonial Lusophone cousins in Brazil. The influence of the latter can be felt in the near-batucada breakdown on Os Bongos’ “Kazucuta,” a floor-shaker that proves there is more to Angola than the morna (most closely comparable to the Portuguese fado in its minor-key anguish). Os Korimbas also go for the pounding percussion workout with their “Semba Braguez,” semba being an antecedent of the Brazilian samba.

Many of these musicians recorded in local languages instead of Portuguese, describing everyday life while not delving too heavily into politics, even though the country was embroiled in a guerilla war that did not let up until independence was won in 1975. No, the key here is to induce dancing, and in that respect this collection is a total success. As a bonus, compiler Samy Ben Redjeb was able to secure full licensing for all tracks and had access to master tapes, guaranteeing gorgeous fidelity from bassy bottom to shekere-rattling top. The liner notes are among the best the label has penned, combining crate-digging travelogues from Redjeb with historical context from academic Marissa Moorman, along with detailed track-by-track analyses filled with first-hand accounts from the musicians, many of whom contacted Redjeb to tell their stories.

Of all of the African collections put out in 2010, this latecomer is quite possibly the best of the lot!

VA - The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria

Just a few months after Soundway Records announced that the Nigeria Special series was coming to a close with the release of Nigeria Special Volume 2 and Nigeria Afrobeat Special, they've backtracked on that promise, sort of (not that any of us at the shop are disappointed!).

The World Ends continues on from that already-legendary series, though not in title, yet this could have easily been titled as the second volume to Nigeria Rock Special from a couple years back. That this one is a double CD (divided into two separate double-vinyl sets with bonus tracks for guaranteed deep grooves to shake floors with) adds to the question of why label boss Miles Cleret may have considered putting his Nigerian crates on ice. I, for one, am still hoping they will start focusing on single-artist collections and original album reissues. Until then, let’s dig into the music presented here, shall we?

Though virgin ears would never think of this as 'rock', Nigerian rock kept its African roots while happily taking in the sounds of Anglo-American youth culture, bringing the guitar to the fore at the expense of horns, which lessened in importance in the early '70s rock bands. The guitar increasingly became a lead instrument, in contrast to both the complex arpeggios of highlife rhythm patterns and the waka-waka comping role that the guitar played in Afrobeat. In post-Biafran War Nigeria, the youth were looking for something new, and this collection documents how young musicians sought a break from older modes associated with the past.

If you already have Nigeria Rock Special, you’ll have some idea of what to expect here, which, in Woodstock terms, is much more Santana and Sly Stone than, say, Canned Heat or Ten Years After—groove still rules here over heaviosity, hips and feet-shaking over headbanging. “Nwantinti/Die Die” by Ify Jerry Krusade opens with a Spector-esque teenbeat teaser before a drum comes in, sending the track into a much more rump-shaking direction. Many of the tracks here sung are in non-Pidjin English, and The Action 13, with their overt rock riffage replete with proto-Neil Hagerty near-free soloing, exemplify this.

I could keep going, but I’ll save it for the inevitable next installment of Nigerian music from the great people at Soundway. Trust me: there’ll be more to come.

LO BORGES - S/T

Over the years, I have not been able to get beyond a couple of songs on Milton Nascimento’s 1972 career-defining Clube Da Esquina. Blame the slick production and smooth baroque vibe, but I have avoided most of the other musicians associated with that album, including Lô Borges.

Well, more fool me. With 14 songs over 27 minutes, this is in many ways antithetical to Nascimento’s overblown album, though equally hard to define. Many songs are fragmentary yet fully realized, densely packed with quirkily muscular musicianship and atmosphere that could have only been produced in the '70s. Here, there are echoes of Paul Williams’ melancholy (“Faca Seu Jogo”), Serge Gainsbourg’s stoned funk (“Você Fica Melhor Assim”), and Pierre Barouh’s international bohemian folk-jazz Saravah label (“Pensa Você”); and, in this post-Tropicalista period, Borges even cleverly morphs a Nilsson-tinged ditty into a psychedelic forró (“Não Foi Nada”)!

This is a wonderfully odd, shape-shifting album that will have you scratching your head for years to come. 

VA - John Armstrong Presents: South African Funk Experience

There have been endless collections over the years documenting various forms of global funk, mostly from west Africa, but this is the only collection of South African funk that I can think of, and it’s brought to you by John Armstrong, curator of the similarly-named Cuban Funk Experience. Armstrong has been a collector of South African music since the 1980s, and his deep knowledge shows in the detailed notes on each of his selections. 

The set he’s put together is not funk in the way we think of funk in the west, though there is definitely a strong black American influence to shake up the joyful tone that characterizes popular South African music. The Mahatolla Queens are wonderful as usual, whether on their own (“Asambeni Bafana”) or backing up Mahlathini (“Wozan Mahipi”). Ex-pats are represented as well, and Armstrong gives some spotlight to exiles in Britain such as Chris MacGregor (on the Joe Boyd-produced “Andromeda”) and Dudu Pukwana. As the World Cup starts to recede from memory, keep the party going with this one. 

JOHNNY HALLYDAY - Le Roi de France 1966-1969

Let's play a little game of "what if": what if instead of staging a soul/gospel-infused comeback in 1968, Elvis Presley attempted suicide, dropped acid, and then recorded psychedelic rock? Obviously that scenario never transpired, but something awfully similar happened to France's version of Elvis, Johnny Hallyday, when the former teen idol began to convincingly adopt all the trademarks of LSD-fueled pop/rock.

The RPM reissue label has now handily put onto one disc the cream of Hallyday's attempts at total heavyosity; backed by Jimmy Page, Brian Auger, The Small Faces and other hard-hitting British musicians, the French vocalist belts out song after song, and sounds not unlike Tom Jones fronting the early Deep Purple (and that's a compliment, by the way!). With some gorgeous orchestral pop tunes thrown in for good measure, this compilation should appeal to those of you who gleefully discovered last year's excellent RPM collection of Jacques Dutronc. Vive la France, indeed!

VA - Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla & Afro Roots In Colombia 1975-91

Another genius set from Soundway, purveyors of no-nonsense global Afro-diasporic music, this time opening the book on champeta, a popular form for blacks in Cartagena and Barranquilla, cities that lie on the Carribean coast of Colombia. While most know Colombia for cumbia and its many permutations, head compiler Lucas Da Silva, boss of his own Palenque imprint, follows the development of champeta’s beginnings in the '70s, when local musicians took to Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat and began to integrate the Black President’s rhythmic sensibility and interlocking guitar parts into their local styles, which already took in soukous, calypso, zouk, and compas.

If you have a copy of the Fela tribute album Black Man’s Cry from earlier this year, you’ll be familiar with Lisandro Mesa’s “Shacalao,” one of a handful of covers of Kuti’s “Shakara” and an early example of champeta. Then, as it is now, it was the soundtrack blasted by sound systems in the rougher parts of town, but what you get here are the raw goods before modern production techniques slicked things up. 

Volume 2, please? Or how about a trawl through other untapped Colombian forms like fandango and puya next? There have been a few Colombian comps put out lately, but we’ve barely scratched the surface, folks. Soundway, bring it on!

MIRIAM MAKEBA - South Africa's Skylark

This being the summer of South Africa’s World Cup, it was only natural that the reissue gods would grace us with a bounty of musical gifts to provide the soundtrack to half-time breaks and post-game parties. Nascente, the label that has also recently put out the excellent Beginner’s Guide to South Africa (3 discs for $18.99!), brings us a generous survey of one of the legends of South African music, the late Mariam Makeba. There have been many collections of her work in the past, but this one covers the broadest span of her career (including her early years with the Skylarks, my personal favourite Makeba period). Exiled to America, where she recorded some of her most famous recordings (“Pata Pata” and “The Click Song” are here, of course), Makeba became deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement and caused a stir when she married Black Panther Stokely Carmichael. In fact, the marriage left her a hot potato for bookers and label bosses, as tours and record deals were cancelled. What followed was a spell in Zaire (she performed at the Rumble In The Jungle match between Ali and Foreman), where she recorded for the fantastic Syliphone label, tracks from which are also included here.

You couldn’t overstate Makeba’s position as one of the great female vocalists of the last 50 years. Off the top of my head, she’s right up there with Elis Regina, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield, but upped the ante by singing in multiple languages and countries, bridging the gap between South African jazz and American folk, soul and funk, and never compromising her political views. Over two discs and forty-five selections, there’s just too much great music to resist here. Get on this now!

LETTA MBULU - Naturally

After recording her first two albums with David Axelrod (Letta Mbulu Sings, and Free Soul, in 1967, and 1968, respectively), then one for Hugh Masekela’s Chisa label, South African exile Letta Mbulu recorded this record for Fantasy. Unlike fellow expat Mariam Makeba, Letta, along with her husband Caiphus Semenya (who wrote and arranged most of this album), fully embraced the fusion of the sounds of her homeland and those of her adopted home in the US. Her more famous Axelrod records were hard to classify beyond their upbeat party numbers and jazzy go-go tunes, but by the time she recorded Naturally her sound had matured in a way that was less uptown and more of an honest, and yes, natural, blend of her roots with that laid-back, folky, gospel-soul stew that, by 1973, she and her husband had a better command of.

On one hand was the killer horn section of Jazz Crusader Wayne Henderson, plus the Adderley brothers, Nat and Cannonball, who set songs like “Hareje” on fire with its deliciously sunshiny mixolydian brass riff in one of the most uplifting tracks you’ll hear this year. Mbulu busts out some deep church 3-part harmonies on “Learn to Love” and “Never Leave You,” while setting some smooth spiritual jazz grooves on “Setho.”  Only an idealist would think such a beautiful merging of American and Soweto idioms could have had a greater influence, but those with clear hindsight will dig this as a rare treat indeed.

JOAO GILBERTO - Chega de Saudade

To call this one of the most influential albums of the second half of the last century would be no exaggeration. Joao Gilberto’s 1959 debut may have been preceded on wax by Elizete Cardoso’s landmark Cançao Do Amor Demais by a year, but the influence of Gilberto’s bossa nova had already been stirring things up in since the erratic oddball began developing his sound in the previous years. While Cardoso’s album was undeniably beautiful, her occasionally melodramatic vocals and orchestral backing only hinted at what Gilberto perfected with Chega de Saudade, ditching all unnecessary inflection, ornamentation, and accompaniment, and establishing the blueprint for the next 50 years of a global phenomenon, rivaled only by reggae as the most influential non-American musical idiom of the past century. Most of these tracks are pure classics of the genre, from the ingenious minor-to-major melody of the title track to “Desafinado” and “A Felicidade”. El Records fills in the additional space with tracks from Gilberto’s first disciples like Bola Sete, Alaide Costa, Walter Wanderley, and, of course, Elizete Cardoso. Absolutely essential.

VA - Black Man's Cry: The Inspiration Of Fela Kuti

By now, Fela Kuti has taken his deserved place in the international canon of musicians whose impact can be felt far beyond borders of time and geography.  Compiled by Stones Throw GM Egon, this batch shows not only the impact his instantly-identifiable sound has had on the world but also documents the sounds of his contemporaries who, in turn, had their influence on him. Thus, tracks by compatriot Segun Bucknor and Ghana’s Jerry Hansen show that others in West Africa were headed in similar directions.

The popularity of Fela With Ginger Baker Live! in the Caribbean led to aggressive interpretations of “Black Man’s Cry” and “Egbe Mo O” included here. From there, we head to Colombia for a pair of takes on “Shakara”, retitled “Shacalao” for an Afro-Colombian percussion workout by Cumbia Moderna de Soledad, and a surprising turn for Lisandro Mesa as he tries it on himself.

Three modern cuts finish things off: one by deep funk revivalists The Daktaris, who tackle the classic “Upside Down", along with originals from the great Jan Weissenfeldt, who takes a swing as The Whitefield Brothers, as well as Karl Hector and The Malcouns, each showing the breadth and depth of fecundity that Fela’s blueprint has given the musical world.

VA - Nigeria Special Volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6

This is a follow-up to 2007’s two-disc collection that helped expand perceptions of Nigerian music beyond the familiar Fela-inspired Afrobeat revolution (for Fela fiends, seek out Soundway’s Nigeria Afrobeat Special, also out now, as well as Now Again's Black Man’s Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti).

For those who understand that the seeming Nigerian overload of late should really be seen as the unveiling of the tip of the proverbial iceberg, this volume provides another chance to celebrate (and be sure to turn up the volume when you do!).

The always-fabulous Bola Johnson grabs the spotlight with a circular four-bar groove on “Jeka Dubu” that would make Gilberto Gil wilt. Meanwhile, throw on Fidel Sax Bateke’s polyrhythmic “Motako” for one of the trickiest intro drum breaks ever, or let Twins Seven bust out the metallophones and congas for a strangely dreamy call-and-response workout on “Totobiroko”. Note to Soundway, though: we wouldn’t say no to a Volume 3, nor would we refuse a feature compilation devoted to Bola Johnson.

VA - Next Stop...Soweto

The release of The Indestructible Beat of Soweto in 1987 was a watershed moment in the developing interest in so-called “world music”, feeding on the craze for South African music that followed Paul Simon’s epochal Graceland from the previous year. Listening to The Indestructible Beat more than 20 years later, what stands out is how much tastes for slick '80s production values combined with a target audience of baby boomers created a snapshot of an era while only hinting at the beauty of that country’s rich musical legacy.

Fast forward to the present time: the influence of African music is stronger than ever, this time nurtured by the international end of rare-groove hounds; DJs like Madlib and his brother Oh No; hippies, of course; and, perhaps most interestingly, the indie set. This time around, interest has been driven by nearly 10 years of a new approach to tracking global sounds that favours rawer vintage recordings over the sheen of the previous lens which has fallen out of favour with current tastes.

Most of the crate digging lately has been centred around Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia, so Next Stop…Soweto (the first of three volumes!) is a highly welcome return to Johannesburg. Tracks are drawn from the late '60s to the mid-'70s, and relentlessly show off the joyful exuberance so easily recognizable from South African musicians: the rich timbres of their choral singing, rhythm guitars that take giant leaps up the neck (with the distinctively trebly tone favoured by Les Paul), occasional 8/8 beats that will make you bounce uncontrollably, and some of the most infectious horn lines you’re likely to hear all year. With any luck, Volume 3 will feature jazz from the late '50s, but for now you simply cannot go wrong with this opening statement. A must-have!