• 
  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 >>

When Lucky Dube was gunned down during a failed carjacking in Johannesburg in October, 2007, he had risen to become the most popular and successful reggae singer in Africa. Twenty years earlier, when Sean Barlow and I first heard Dube and his band at a music festival outside Soweto, it would have been hard to imagine such success. Dube was the only reggae act in the program, and he went over quite well with the crowd, wielding a long multi-colored scarf as his band dropped into the vamp from “No Woman, No Cry” between each song. But in apartheid South Africa, then going mad for “bubblegum” and “disco,” Dube’s tuneful reggae seemed nearly as marginalized as the mbaqanga acts that were then being consigned to the remaindered bins at local record stores. Of course, that was the year Dube released the song “Slave,” ostensibly about alcoholism, but with unmistakable political overtones. Dube had only recently broken away from the Zulu traditional format and embraced reggae, and this song, with its aching lead and wailing backing vocals was striking a chord at last. Dube was on his way to stardom in South Africa, and the rest is history.

All that history and more is beautifully captured on this career retrospective, which starts with two examples of Dube’s Zulu trad sound (unreleased outside South Africa) and extends through to his final work. It is fascinating to hear Dube on those early tracks, hewing to the shimmering vocal sound of the Soul Brothers, clearly a terrific singer. By the time we get to “Slave,” Dube’s signature sound is intact, the yearning, R&B tinged melody, the cooing female chorus, the deep skank, and that trademark woozy keyboard that would soon be a staple of nearly every pop song in southern Africa. From there, we hear Dube refining his craft in ever more mature songs. “Different Colors” with its soul vibe and wide cultural embrace captures the spirit of a rejuvenated, hopeful South Africa. “My Game” with its strong, slow groove is a meditation on spiritual warfare. “Trinity” and “Guns and Roses” find Dube in two of his most lavish productions. And “Crime and Corruption” sheds light on the disappointments of post-apartheid South Africa, and foreshadows his own violent fate.

Dube left us too soon, but this compilation, including a DVD of excellent performance clips, is a fitting tribute. Kudos to the album curator Tom Scnhabel of KCRW, Santa Monica, CA, for doing a great artist proud.

Contributed by Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org