A groundbreaking, 1978 blend of Arab, jazz, Baroque pop, folk, and Brazilian styles like Bossa Nova, Tropicalia and MPB, with Fairouz’ son Ziad Rahbani as musical arranger, setting Palestinian poetry by Samih Al Qasem, Tawfiq Ziad, and the great Mahmoud Darwish.

Boogie-down cosmic funk — like full-throttle Roy Ayers. Jimi Adams packs his inner Hendrix off to Funky Town; the horns are the horniest; Mona runs it all down with an irresistible West African tilt.

Afro-space-disco murder — shuffling and wiggling, synthy and bubbling — from this re-incarnation of Willy Nfor’s Mighty Flames, recruited mostly from the wave of Cameroonian musicians drawn to Nigeria in the late-1970s by its heavy new funk sound. It’s a long way from Ohio, but the Troutmans are in the mix.

Limited, gatefold LP version of the first SF CD release in 2003: droning beat pop, early Orkes Melayu songs, Batak Tapanuli, traditional Minang, and rare folk drama from the Indonesian island, from cassettes.

Originally released by the Folkstudio label in 1976, this is infectiously exuberant, eighteen-piece spiritual jazz in the tradition of the Arkestra, the Organic Music Society, and Mingus; strung between the post-war big bands and the Italian outernationalism of projects like Aktuala and Futuro Antico, drawing in music from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Her 1967 album of duets with Jacques Higelin, retaining arranger Jimmy Walter from her debut, the previous year. Two songs here — La Grippe and Maman — became centrepieces of the duo’s stage musical, Maman J’ai Peur.

From 1973, the first of her recordings as a duo with Areski. ‘Deeply rooted in North African and European folk traditions… evocative vignettes with breezy vocals and minimal accompaniment of classical guitar, strings and woodwinds… One of their best-loved albums, for its remarkable sense of intimacy… beckoning listeners into a strange and beautiful world.’

Sixteen wonders from the first three years of Franco’s own imprint Les Editions Populaires, founded in 1968. Mostly OK Jazz, performing ravishing rumbas and bolero ballads in Lingala, traditional songs in Kikongo, Kimongo, and even Yoruba, collaborations with Ngoma artists Camille Feruzi and Manuel d’Oliveira, and their own tough take on US funk.
Glorious music. Bim.

Radiant 1950s Tanzanian pop.
‘As a trio Frank Humplick, Thecla Clara and Maria Regina recorded and toured throughout East Africa and issued a string of instant classics, capturing fans with their beautifully harmonized singing, clever lyrics, and Frank’s stunning guitar work. Imagine the fingerstyle finesse of John Fahey cut with a pure pop melodicism, and combined with the family harmony of groups like The Carter Family, The Roches, and The Beach Boys, set in the golden age of Tanzanian music!’
With a colourful eight-page booklet featuring complete lyrics in English, Swahili and Chaga, as well as previously unpublished photographs, extensive interviews, biographies and anecdotes.

Choca with unrelentingly hard and heavy salsa bangers, school of Willie Colon, this 1973 album is the fifth full-length salsa LP led by Julio Ernesto Estrada Rincón, aka Fruko, and the second credited to Fruko Y Sus Tesos. The singers are Joe Arroyo and Wilson ‘Saoko’ Manyoma; besides salsa, the rhythms are mozambique, conga, bomba, and jala jala.
The stone-cold-killer descarga Salsa Na Ma is here. Phew-wee. Raging dancefloor fire.

Rough, tough salsa brava from 1972.
The soaring, soulful vocals of Edulfamid Molina Díaz front an augmented, more aggressive brass section —introducing another trumpet and two trombones to the lineup— swaggering through a dazzling range of rhythms including guaguancó, bomba, plena, oriza, bolero, cha-cha-chá, descarga, and Latin soul.
Warmly recommended.

‘An innovative and deeply moving blend of spiritual jazz and South Asian devotional music’, with contributions from Esperanza Spalding, Vijay Iyer, Shabaka Hutchings, Immanuel Wilkins…

‘The groundbreaking debut album by legendary Nigerian percussionist Gasper Lawal, originally released in 1980 on his own label CAP.
‘Lawal meticulously self-produced, composed, and overdubbed the album over four years, assembling an elite group of musicians from both Nigeria and the UK. Several of he instruments used were hand-built, including a powerful one-of-a-kind drum carved deep in the Nigerian bush. “This music is not about trends, about what is commercial or a “sound” of a particular moment,” explains Lawal, “it is about music to be felt, that gives pleasure. It is nurturing and meditative.”
‘Spiritually resonant, rhythmically rich and genre-defying,’