The Very Best – Warm Heart Of Africa (Moshi Moshi)
4/5
By: Matt Cole
Sting is a bastard. As is Peter Gabriel. Thanks to them it is now virtually impossible to hear genuine African vocals in popular music without imagining a dinner table surrounded by middle class art teachers, passing around a soggy, anaemic spliff and banging on about how “amaaaaaazing” Womad was.
Again.
Thankfully a happy accident which led to the fantastically named DJ / Production team Radioclit meeting Malawian vocalist Essau Mwamwaya in a furniture shop, could help consign the goatee bearded, knitted poncho sporting nightmare of patronising “World Music” stereotypes to history.
Debut album proper The Warm Heart Of Africa sees The Very Best combining modern dance sounds and sampled traditional African instruments layered with Mwamwaya’s engaging vocals to create a celebratory and accessible new sound. It all adds up to be a more focussed take on MIA’s cultural sound-clash.
In fact the only thing missing is a touch of Maya Arulpragasam’s style of eclecticism to really make the whole thing fly. However the lady herself does show up on stand out track Rain Dance, bringing a bit of edge to the sound.
Artists in this article: The Very Best
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