Back after a hiatus, Gilberto Gil brings his familial Nos Á Gente project to The Barbican on Saturday 30th July. A celebratory affair for which Gil will be joined by family and friends, this rare London show offers something of a ‘greatest hits’ care of the newly octogenarian Gil, for...
All posts by Lucas Keen
Artists as original as Penny Penny who plays Camden’s Jazz Cafe Saturday 6th August aren’t (incoming pun) two a penny… Earning his nickname on his merits as a breakdancer, Penny Penny has been dubbed the “Shangaan disco king” for proudly representing his South African Tsonga culture and his is a...
Malian musical royalty Oumou Sangaré returns to London to play Grace Jones’ Meltdown Festival at Southbank Centre, in a show postponed by the pandemic. In the interim Oumou has recorded and released a new album Timbuktu (check out our review), arguably better than the album that would have made up...
![Album Review: Oumou Sangaré – Timbuktu [World Circuit; April 2022]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/oumou-sangare_timbuktu_lp_4050538752564_front-lo-res-335x335.jpeg)
Oumou Sangaré is back on the World Circuit and we are here for it. After a hiatus from the British label during which she recorded Mogoya and Acoustic on the French label Nø Førmat! Mali’s Oumou Sangaré returns with Timbuktu, a luminous collection of eleven songs recorded between Bamako and...
![Album Review: Rokia Koné & Jacknife Lee – BAMANAN [Real World Records; February 2022]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/bamanan-rokia-kone-cover-335x335.jpeg)
The roses go to Rokia… New on Real World Records and fresh from a coveted Songlines cover, Mali’s Rokia Koné, nicknamed “The Rose of Bamako”, blesses us with BAMANAN, which has been out since February 18th, and is a collaboration realised remotely with Irish super producer Jacknife Lee. Already a...
In the new episode of Rendez-Vous a Bobo, Lucas makes a ‘rendez-vous’ with DJ, broadcaster, and label boss Gilles Peterson. Gilles highlights a few key tunes from West Africa in his record box, talks French radio, and managing a record label in 2021. Tracklist: • Fela Kuti – Roforofo Fight...
The new episode of Rendez-Vous à Bobo is a rendez-vous “from the archives” with the late great Hugh Masekela. Lucas Keen interviewed Masekela back in 2006, when he was just starting out in radio. Featured album of the month is Indaba Is out now on Brownswood Records + Some well known and...
Lucas makes a Rendez-vous with The Lagos Thugs – a 15 strong afrobeat band fresh out of Lagos to talk inspiration, protest, and what’s in a name? Plus music from Kokoroko and Made Kuti Track list: Kokoroko – Abusey Junction [from We Out Here; Brownswood Recordings] Made Kuti –...
Rendez-vous with Lucas for a beginner’s guide to Baloji – the multi-faceted artist from DRC via Belgium making some of the most inventive Afrofuturist music and visuals about. Track List 1. Baloji – Le Reste Du Monde [from Hotel impala, EMI Music Belgium, 2007] 2. Baloji – Congo Eza Ya Biso [from Kinshasa Succursale; Crammed Discs,...
![Album Review: Oumou Sangaré – Acoustic [No Format!; June 2020]](https://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/oumou-sangare-acoustic-cover-335x335.jpg)
Acoustic is a rootsy reimagining of Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s 2017 album Mogoya, but where Mogoya used a palette of beats and synths, Acoustic says more with less. Opening with ‘Kamelemba’, a song of counsel warning women away from sweet talkers and playboys, Oumou’s majestic voice converses with the jittery...
