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  KG Omulo: Ayah Ye!: Moving Train
  
  A synergy of funk, rock, reggae and traditional African sounds from this inventive, young singer/songwriter.
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  Various Artists: Chief Boima Presents: Lone Stars - Hipco and Gbema
  
  
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  Mamadou Diabaté: Courage
  
  Mamadou Diabate, the kora master, takes a fresh look at Mali instrumental music with his new CD Courage.
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  Various Artists: The Kankobela of the Batonga, Vol. 2
  
  Mysterious melodies from a disappearing thumb piano tradition of Southern Africa.
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  Kiran Ahluwalia: Aam Zameen: Common Ground
  
  Indo-Canadian Songwriter Combines Folk Poetry with African Rock, Jazz and more
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  M.anifest: Immigrant Chronicles: Coming to America
  
  
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  Sona Jobarteh: FASIYA
  
  West African female kora virtuoso releases an album full of grace, warmth, and passion.
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  Sia Tolno: My Life
  
  Kissi singer releases a strong second album full of pop-infused star power over songs of strife and triumph.
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  Zieti: Zemelewa
  
  Eclectic blend of Afro-infused pop out of Cote d'Ivoire.
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  Guelewar: Halleli N Dakarou
  
  Re-released and remastered live CD from this 80's experimental Senegambian outfit.
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  Tinariwen: Tassili
  
  Touareg desert legends return with an offering that is meandering, sorrowful and proud.
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  Los Rakas: Chancletas y Camisetas Bordada
  
  Oakland/Panamanian rappers -call it "Panabay"-- return with good results.
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  Cheikh Lo: Jamm
  
  The unique Senegalese singer and multi-instrumentalist crafts an eclectically excellent record.
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  David Rudder: Random Notes
  
  Calypsonian David Rudder returns with an album that covers various styles with excellent results.

All Reviews >>

This set introduces the series’ central subject, Addis in 70s, with 17 of the 250 songs released by Amha Records before Amha’s exile in 1975. Muluqèn Mèllèssè kicks off with her high, quavering, vocal timbre. Then we meet one of the most important Ethiopian singers, Mahmoud Ahmed, a man with a voice for the ages, full of robust, burly romanticism. The modes are dark; the rhythms a churning, mysterious blend of 4/4 and 6/8 time. Hints of brass band marches, R&B and soul, and bossa nova emerge. Two of the only six tracks vocalist Seyfu Yohannès—the James Brown on —offer rowdy reinventions of heavily ornamented Abyssinian melodies. Four tracks by crooner Tèsomè Meteku introduce the spectacularly original, jazz informed arranging of Mulatu Astatqè, a key architect of the Addis sound. The set ends with Gétachèw Kassa’s fast and slow renditions of the melancholy standard “Tezeta,” a song interpreted in many versions throughout the series.