
The shimmering, refined funk of Sankofa takes Tony Allen’s Losun for its departure point; the Cairo side is a burning basement session in the Ra big-band tradition, heavy on the percussion and choca with fine solos.
When the Hypnotics handed over this monster (taking a break from live collaboration with Mos Def), they mentioned something about its ‘Egyptian’ vibe, so — on top of the fact that a couple of them are sons of Ra trumpeter Phil Cohran — it seemed apposite to couple it with new recordings of Tony’s compositions made for us in Cairo by space jazz luminary Salah Ragab, who once himself recorded and toured with the Arkestra.