![Album Review: Alhousseini Anivolla & Girum Mezmur – Afropentatonism [Piranha Records; July 2020]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/anivolla-afropentatonism-cover-335x335.jpg)
It was a breath of fresh air to receive this excellent album to review. Set against a background of recent unrest in Ethiopia triggered by the killing of controversial musician Haacaaluu Hundeessa in Addis Ababa on 29th June this year, the album Afropentatonism (out in early July on Piranha Records) by...
All posts by Griselda
Chaos and confusion seem to dominate our lives at the moment, but one thing you can depend on is a steady stream of new music from one of Mali’s most famous couples, Amadou & Mariam. On the eve of the UK leg (on the 4th of November at Troxy) of their...
Senégalese group Orchestra Baobab is a legend in its own lifetime, influencing generations of musicians and entertaining countless Afro-Cuban music lovers. Despite ups and downs in the group’s forty-five year history these dynamic and virtuosic musicians have continued to produce groundbreaking new music. Their latest album, Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng (World...
![Album Review: Martyn Bennett – Grit [Real World Records, 28th July 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mb_grit-cover-3000pxls-335x335.jpg)
Anyone who knows the story of Martyn Bennett cannot help but be moved by Grit, his final album released in 2003. He died of cancer just over a year later at the age of 33. At the time of its release, Real World described Grit as: “arguably one of the...
The 19th May 2017 saw the release of Mogoya (check our review), Grammy award-winning Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s seventh album. Her tour has just passed through London with a show at Village Underground on 17th May, and Rhythm Passport was lucky enough to get this short interview with one of Africa’s...
![Album Review: Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita – Transparent Water [World Village/Harmonia Mundi, 24th February 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/artworks-000190691518-ioy2nx-t500x500-335x335.jpg)
Transparent Water, a meeting between Cuban jazz pianist Omar Sosa and versatile Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita, is a delightful sounding album that lures the listener into an enchanted sonorous world. Keita has made his mark in recent years as a sensitive collaborator (with Welsh harpist Katrin Finch, for example),...
![Album Review: Alhousseini Anivolla – Osas, It’s Time [Fidjomusic, 8th April 2017]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/17800385_1230826400367474_3309708329543545359_n-335x346.jpg)
Former Tinariwen & Etran Finatawa guitarist and vocalist Alhousseini Anivolla is a self-proclaimed ambassador for cultural diversity in a changing world; a nomad whose experiences inspire and inform his song writing. This second solo album Osas – It’s Time is simple in both concept and execution. Stripped down production and...
On the eve of the release of his latest album Transparent Water, Senégalese kora player, percussionist and singer Seckou Keita was packing to fly to Paris for some radio sessions and shows in France – when he managed to find a moment to talk to Rhythm Passport about the latest of his many...
![Album Review: Kadialy Kouyate – Na Kitabo [KKSOUNDARCHIVE, 2nd December 2016]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/a2229307561_10-335x303.jpg)
It’s great to hear Kadialy Kouyate firmly back in his own Mandinka territory. This latest album Na Kitabo (My Book) by the kora player and singer is rooted in his own Senégalese tradition and has all the hallmarks of a classic in the making. The themes of the songs counteract humanity’s...
![Album Review: Abou Diarra – Koya [Mix et Métisse, 10th November 2016]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/cover-album-rvb-335x335.jpg)
Oh yes! We’re loving yet another great new release from Mali here at Rhythm Passport. Kamale n’goni player and singer Abou Diarra is a hardworking performer. Setting out from his musical home in Mali he travelled throughout West Africa and now resides in France, where he recorded his two most...
