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False msafiri 3 MORE GREAT sounds habariinspiration 38 HHHHH BRAZILIKA Various Artists ( Far Out) British DJ Andy Votel likes nothing better than hunting down impossibly rare grooves from around the globe and then spinning them afresh for a new generation of clubbers and collectors. For his latest collection, Votel has assembled a peerless collection of Brazilian obscurities from the 1970s, mostly drawn from the vaults of the Som Livre and RGE labels. This was an era when the boundaries between funk, progressive rock and psychedelia were constantly blurring and mutating, as groups like Novos Baianos, the legendary Os Mutantes and Azymuth admirably demonstrate here. BUIKA Nina de Fuego ( WCJ) Concha Buika is Spain’s latest flamenco sensation. Her deep- grained, bluesy voice has been described as a blend of Tina Turner, Lola Flores and Sarah Vaughan; the songs she writes ( often in collaboration with her producer Javier Limon) are tinged with soul, jazz and funk influences that indicate the range of her tastes and talents. Buika’s latest album, Nina de Fuego – literally, ‘ Little Girl of Fire’ – has already gone gold in Spain, and is earning the singer enthusiastic notices abroad. Concerts in London, Montreal, Miami and New York have won her new fans around the world, while an acclaimed performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival provided surprising evidence of her love for the music of fusion guitar maestro Pat Metheny. UMALALI The Garifuna Women’s Project ( Cumbancha) The Garifuna are descended from shipwrecked African slaves who settled in villages along the Caribbean coasts of Central America. Some of their remarkably pure music, rich in folklore, has now been curated by producer Ivan Duran for this astonishing new album. The songs – performed with great delicacy by female singers from the surviving Garifuna communities – were initially recorded in modest huts by the sea and then subtly enhanced with modern production techniques. While it’s possible to hear uncanny echoes of Western popular music in these tunes, their unique, timeless qualities ring loud and true. BLACK STARS: GHANA’S HIPLIFE GENERATION Various artists ( Out There) Rap music reaches right round the globe, influencing every pop music scene. In Ghana, they mash their hiphop up with the long- established African highlife sound to create ‘ hiplife’, a fast and funky dance music that also adds a little bhangra, reggae and electronica to the mix. This tasty compilation brings together some of the latest and greatest hiplife tracks – blazing club bangers like King Ayisoba’s Modern Ghanaians, which features a two- stringed guitar- like instrument, the kolgo, or the utterly manic Oldman Boogey RMX by FBS ( aka Function Boyz Squad.). Ghana’s current crop of Black Stars may not enjoy quite the same bling and booty lifestyle as their heroes – American superstar rappers like 50 Cent and Kayne West – but their music is just as inventive and outrageous. This is the sound of Young Ghana in full effect. SILIMBO PASSAGE Seckou Keita ( World Art Ventures) The kora, often called the West African harp, is a large stringed instrument that also shares acoustic properties with the guitar and the lute. In the hands of a master musician like the Senegalese virtuoso Seckou Keita, there are few more beguiling sounds than a kora being expertly plucked and played. While Keita was raised in the classical griot tradition, he often employs unconventional tunings in his music- making, and draws inspiration from such modern improvising musicians as Richard Bona, Bela Fleck and Bobby McFerrin. For Silimbo Passage, Keita has assembled a wonderfully sympathetic group – bassist Davide Mantovani, percussionist Surahata Susso, violinist Samy Bishai and vocalist Binta Susso – to create a sensuous, eclectic collection. KQ REVIEWS Andrew Littlefield listens to the best new CDs HHHHH ANA HINA Natacha Atlas ( World Village) Ana Hina, Natacha Atlas’s seventh studio album, has already been hailed by The Times newspaper in the UK as ‘ the most satisfying work of her career.’ Backed by an all- acoustic group called The Mazeeka Ensemble, the singer once again draws on her mixed African and Arabic heritage to create an intoxicating fusion of different but complementary musical cultures and traditions – and this time round, there’s also a pronounced Mediterranean feel to many of the tracks. Among the record’s highlights are a cover of Black is the Colour ( a song made famous by Nina Simone) and La Vida Callada, a duet with Spanish singer Clara Sanabras that features lyrics adapted from a poem by the artist Frida Kahlo. If you’ve not fallen under the spell of her spine- tingling singing before – either solo, or with the pioneering group Transglobal Underground – then now is the perfect time to find your place with the Atlas. HHHHH MSAFIRI’S TOP3 albums