To hear a song sample, click on "Listen" by that sample.

1. Eyupuro - Masikini	Listen
2. Oumou Sangare - Kayini wura	Listen
3. Mose Fan Fan - Sikulu	Listen
4. Simentera - Valsa azul	Listen
5. Setona - Komssou	Listen
6. Toumani diabete - Yamfa
7. Afel Bocoum - Jaman moro
8. Momo Wandel Soumah - Midge
9. Khalifa Ould Eide & Dimi Mint Abba - Hassaniya song for dancing
10. Salamat - Elleya Misafar
11. Tarika - Retany
12. Oliver Mutukudzi - Mwana wamambo
13. Spirit Talk Mbira - Mukanga poto
14. Abdullah Ibrahim - Eleventh hour

Amazon.co.uk Review
Deafened by electronic bombardment? This delightful record will provide massage for your ears. Just as we all love the clockwork radio, so we are suddenly waking up to the uncontaminated beauty of acoustic sound. These 14 generous tracks celebrate the kora (African harp), the balafon (wooden xylophone), the mbira (thumb piano) and guitar. What they all have in common is a serene and gentle pace, but they also encompass great variety. From Malian desert blues sung by (appropriately) an irrigation engineer, to the complex vocal styles of Mauretania; from the Portuguese-influenced music of Cape Verde to the massed mbiras of Zimbabwe. We get Shona spirit-invocations and Nubian crooning, call-and-response from Congo and a foot-tapping dance from Madagascar. The final track comes like a quantum technological leap, but it's only Abdullah Ibrahim playing a lazy piano solo. The album's only blemish is its liner note: given that the whole thing is about instruments, how come we are told nothing about the instrumentation for each track? Very odd. --Michael Church

Share your thoughts with other customers:

• Pop
• World & Folk > African

• Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? (We'll ask you to sign in so we can get back to you)