Listen Now!

This is a CD with a story behind it; in short, it's the first compilation from a new label focusing mostly on contemporary music in Tanzania. Before they started releasing albums as Limitless Sky in 2002, Michel and Rosa Tyabji spent three years in Tanzania, researching, traveling, and recording, mostly in their own studio in Dar Es Salaam. Now based in Seattle, they are unpacking their treasures, and the first results are very promising.

The four Tanzanian acts (and one Zimbabwean) gloriously sampled here are not exactly "new." Guitarist and singer Ndala Kasheba first came to Tanzania with a band from Congo in 1964, and he's been active on the scene ever since. Achigo Band used to be Orchestra Marquis, champions of Swahili dance music during the days when Radio Tanzania was the only recording company in town. The lively, percussion-driven pop act Yekete Beat Band formed in the Arusha region of Tanzania in 1989, and singer Delphin Mununga was brought to Dar from Lubumbashi, Congo, by Ndala Kasheba in the 1980s. As for the one Zimbabwean here, mbira maestro Garikayi Tirikoti has been developing his unique take on the ancient Shona musical art, and his unusual 8-piece group, for over thirty years.

But if these acts are not strictly new, they have never been released internationally, and when you hear these 12 tracks, you'll likely agree that it's high time. Yekete Beat Band offers a boisterous blast of bass, hand percussion, growly, cycling guitars, horns and vocals. The group favors forest rhythms--mostly variants on 12/8 time--poignant vocals and short, eloquent guitar breaks. Of the three fine tracks here, the taut, concise "Ngoma" (sampled for this review) is especially good. Achigo Band features a big, lush vocal sound, strongly reminiscent of the more choral Congolese pop music. They do play rumba, as on "Tebo," but their tour de force here is a rolling, nine-minute, 12/8 extravaganza called "Watanzania Watu Wa Amani."

Ndala Kasheba's music also bears the stamp of his Congolese roots. With his booming tenor voice and big band ambiance, one inevitably thinks of Franco in his prime. But Kasheba has a number of distinguishing qualities in his Swahili rumba sound, most notably his use of an electrified, 12-string acoustic guitar, which he overdubs to create a gorgeous, chiming ambiance. "Kokolay" is especially winning with a bass-driven riff that won't quit, a killer call-and-response vocal hook, and Kasheba's deep, commanding voice at the center of a tuneful sax section eruptions, and the pulsing jangle of those 12-string guitars. We get just a taste of Delphin Mununga with a pretty acapella piece called "Kilimanjaro," but this compilation will leave any fan of classic African dance pop panting for more from the Limitless Sky vault. (So far, just one other title, Ndala Kasheba's Yellow Card has been released.)

Garikayi Tirikoti's three mbira pieces round this set out with satisfying variety. Among the things that set Tirikoti apart from other mbira artists is the way he combines mbiras using different tunings to create a rich, almost orchestral sound. His use of many voices to create thick vocal textures is also distinctive. "Kugara Hunzwara," a sublime, 11-minute variant on the mbira traditional song "Nhema Musasa" will satisfy even the fussiest mbira music connoisseur.

All this music is well recorded and mixed, with no drum machines or synthesizers to spoil the mood. If Limitless Sky proves as good at marketing music as they are at finding and producing it, we can look forward to lots more from one of the bravest and most promising new labels focusing on Afropop to appear in years.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org