I always dislike the cover-all description of music from traditions outside those familiar to the Western pop charts as world music; beneath this blanket are incorporated styles far more diverse than should logically be able to be grouped together. While I can’t see any chance that this compilation will be marketed as anything other than world music, it does at least have a good go at demonstrating the breadth of possibilities that encompasses, and hence my point.
Cobbled together from older compilations of African, Carribean and South American afrobeat, funk, jazz and various traditional and tribal fusions, a diverse selection of artists and sounds is presented without lending the impression that there is anything random about the selection. This is further enhanced by the fact that most of the material was originally recorded in the 1970’s, sharing temporal contexts in addition to the musical connections.
A cornucopia of groovy jams, relentless rhythms and wild solos from a bewildering variety of instruments unfolds, taking in the exotically-named likes of Fruko Y Sus Tesos, Les Loups Noirs De Haiti and Celestine Ukwu And His Philosophers National. The standard is consistently high throughout and there’s not a track on here your feet will be able to resist.
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