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The blues-Mali connection has been much pondered, and Mali to Memphis attempts to illustrate the tie with selections of both Malian artists and American bluesmen (and women). The Malian cuts, especially those from Rokia Traore, Boubacar Traore, and Lobi Traore, are the most persuasive, setting up lo...

Kenya Dance Mania: East Africa's Finest Rumbas & Other Styles...

Urban Africa Club...

Never has there been a more appropriate Red Hot tribute than this one dedicated to the music of Afrobeat founder Fela Kuti, the Nigerian legend who died from AIDS-related complications in 1997. The artists and groups heard here, nearly 40 all told, cover the musical spectrum: hip-hop (Blackalicious,...

African Tribal Music & Dances...

With 400 ethnic groups in Nigeria alone, The Rough Guide to the Music of Nigeria & Ghana (from the Rough Guide series) covers a vast canvas. So it's no wonder--and probably a sensible idea--that Fela Kuti, the Nigerian singer best known in the West, should not be included (on the grounds that h...

Cumbia is one of the world's great dance grooves. It is made up of merry guitars and accordions, torrid brass, and insistent, deep-toned drums and percussion, pounding out a lopsided, strutting 4/4 rhythm with a kick like nitroglycerine. Cumbia is the result of three colliding cultures that settled ...

It was the South African sounds on Paul Simon's Graceland that first brought world music into the spotlight, and from there it's continued to shine. This album doesn't try to be The Indestructible Beat of Soweto; instead, it covers a wider canvas of the country's musical range. Along with mbaqanga, ...

Travelling across Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Western Sahara, The Rough Guide To The Music Of The Sahara encompasses the hauntingly beautiful and dramatically different sounds of the desert. Compiled by Saharan music expert Andy Morgan, this album features driving desert rock and roll, Moorish tra...

The Rough Guide To World Music: Africa & Middle East highlights the dynamic and ever-changing world music scene, and is released in conjunction with the latest edition of the book that has become known as the `World Music Bible'. From Afro-beat to Congolese Soukous, and from Tuareg music to Arab...