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

All Reviews >>

Here's something unusual to liven up the dance floor this summer. Zuco 103 is a slick, funky Brazilian/European techno-pop act that draws on so many sources at once it's dizzying. Lilian Viera's sugar sweet voice is the center of the sound, gliding tunefully through the barrage of layered genres, with occasional English lines weaving through the Portuguese. Dutch drummer Stefan Kruger and German keyboardist Stefan Schmid are the other core members, but an army of "guests" fill out the 14 tracks on this the group's second album.

Brazilian pop has long appropriated American soul, jazz, and recently hip-hop airs, and all of that is here, along with much more. Songs change gears on a dime, shifting from dreamy bossa-nova tinged balladry to pumping dance grooves without breaking a sweat. "Brazil 2000" builds on a driving '70s Philly soul idea, giving it a punk rock edge, and then veering off into the psychedelic roar of northeast Brazilian mangue-beat, the most original pop style to emerge from Brazil in the last decade. "Curso de Reclamaçâo - Liçâo 1" pulls in the mangue flavor as well with triangle and fiddle, but also a measure of country rock and a solid base of techno boogie.

Jazz makes its presence felt with swinging reprieves inserted into a 6/8 club groove and fat, fine horn section work on "Sací (Ghost Boy in the Whirlwind)." "To Life" begins with a not to bossa nova, but quickly drops into a fast polyrhythmic beat--call it bebop retrofitted for the dance floor. Zuco 103 thrive on surprising juxtapositions, like the song "Morro Eléctrico (Electric Hill)," which overlays a wacky sine-wave sound from the birth of synthesizers with a fast samba school chant. Expect the unexpected and get ready to boogie.

Contributed by Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org