Rating:
Genre:
World
Release Date: 04/29/2008
Released in part as an anniversary celebration for
Putumayo,
African Party brings the label back to its original sounds -- simple African dance music. The styles are fairly wide-ranging here, roving from West Africa to South Africa and all points in between. Differently from many
Putumayo releases, though, the singers here are primarily seasoned pros who have been performing for decades -- very few are the young and fresh artists who make up a good portion of other
Putumayo collections. The album starts out with a pair of Guinean artists:
Sekouba Bambino, who comes from a griot lineage and the band
Africando, and
Macire Sylla, from a decidedly more urban setting and the band
Fatala.
BoPol Mansiamina, who's played guitar for every soukous musician there's been, provides a bit of rhumba, and
Putumayo stalwart
Oliver Mtukudzi adds in a sample of his highly fused "Tuku music" with aspects of chimurenga in the instruments and mbaqanga in the vocals, and a strong moral line woven into the lyrics.
Les Go de Koteba mix traditionally strong Mandingo vocals with a relatively soft, almost soukous-like guitar line.
Mapumba is clearly the youngest contributor, with a slickly produced fusion of South African aesthetics and Congolese guitar riffs. A special historical note comes with the highlife-heavy
Kotoja -- leader
Ken Okulolo originally came to the U.S. with
King Sunny Ade's group, but after staying and forming
Kotoja, he became the inspiration for
Putumayo's foundation (and one of the first to release an album on the label); they've kept the strong trap drum from
Sunny Ade's sound. Surrounded by thumb pianos, Zimbabwean singer
Chiwoniso (daughter of the great
Dumisani Maraire) has a modern sound that still incorporates some traditional aspects --
Stella Chiweshe should be proud. Before the album ends, there's a contribution from guitarist
Louis Mhlanga who, like
BoPol Mansiamina earlier, has played with half of the major stars of modern African music. The album ends on the Angolan semba of classic artist
Bonga, here paired with a couple of Brazilian artists to take advantage of the Portuguese connections. The album is a little light in ways, averting itself from some of the edgier contemporary sounds that are now spilling out of Africa. However, it's a dance album -- this music is supposed to make the listener want to get up, and that's where it succeeds. The performers are almost to a man veterans of their sound and masters of their form, and their form is dance.
~Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
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