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AFRICA

OLD WORLD (inc Asia, Arabia)

African Discographies

Greetings, Platterbugs!

Updated 2 December 2025

Listening Party

New music

ZigZag band from Zimbabwe now out on Analog Africa

via Bart C: Reissue of Kelan Cohran's African Skies

via Tony P:
New from Ethiopiques: Muluken Mellesse and the Daleks

plus vol 32 the Either/Orchestra

Suntou Susso: the path of a Griot

more Guinea trad from Blo Mallon Kouyate

Cheikh Lo live

Desert Blues from Telle Talyadt

from Frank Wouters:
Reissue of a great album from Cabo Verde. Besides funana music, it also contains 2 reggae songs. "Hello Carol" was The Gladiators first hit in 1969 on Studio One.

Money Chicha: Onda Esoterica

music on video

Orqesta Aragon on youtube, great show from Barranquilla in 2023 (via Bob-a-Loup)
check out "Yaye Boy" at 21'50

Slow Horses fans! This is where Jagger stole the title music

Youssou Ndour live in Europe recently

via Ted Jaspers:
Afrikakono: Salseros de Senegal, documentary in Italian, Wolof & French; even if you don't follow the commentary there are clips of Pap Seck, Pape Fall, and great concert footage of Mar Seck, Laba Sosseh, Issa Sossoko and others with interviews. Also check out Ted's NewDakarSound channel on Youtube

R.I.P.

Dadou Pasquet, of Haiti's Magnum Band

Latest Muzikifan Podcasts

Hit it & quit
music from all over and a celebration of mayor Mamdami

In the Mood For:
samples of the discs reviewed below plus some surprises

DOCTEUR NICO PRESENTS AFRICAN FIESTA SUKISA 1966-74 (Planet Ilunga PI-14)

In 2009 when I published a Discography of Docteur Nico, I did not include more than a sketch of his life, but I had ambitions to write a full-scale biography at the time. However, my plans to go back to Congo-Zaire were thwarted. I have a Congolese friend who now lives in California who planned to go visit his mother (and "the bush under which he was born") but civil war intervened. On another occasion a conference was planned in Kinshasa, to which I was invited, to discuss Nico's work — that fell apart however. Now with this compilation from Planet Ilunga, and its massive booklet we get many views of his life and work from those who knew him: his brother and daughter, former bandmates and friends, as well as a never-before published interview with him. Born in Kasaï, Nico had a tough childhood. His father, François Kabamba, who played accordéon, died, and the in-laws wanted his mother to remarry her brother-in-law. Rather than accept this fate the mother fled, leaving Nico essentially an orphan. His elder brother Déchaud brought him to Kinshasa to live with two aunties who housed and raised the boy. Déchaud was a back-up singer to the great Paul Mwanga, and soon young Nico was hanging out at the Opika studio and learning to play guitar. He did not read music but learned by ear and quickly impressed the musicians at the studios. From 1951 to '57 he appeared as a backup singer on discs by le groupe DePe, featuring Déchaud and Gobi. On the ballad "Cherie Henriette," (Opika 1326) the credits are Kabasele et Nico et leur ensemble. Nico was barely in his teens and a full-time student. He studied diligently but found time to listen to and practice music. At the Opika studio, the Belgian Fud Candrix played sax and taught jazz phrasing to the other musicians, Taumani was on bass, and guitars were played by Déchaud and cousin Tino Baroza. Soon Nico was gigging as a guitarist also. He can be heard on Planet Ilunga LP04 where he accompanies Kabasele on "African Jazz," the song that gave birth to the new band. In 1956 the label ended but most of the musicians moved to the new Esengo label with stars also coming from Editions Loningisa. Nico experimented, creating new bands like African Rock & African Jazz Nico. He continued to compose and perform with Kabasele in African Jazz until he & Rochereau split to form African Fiesta.

This new band adapted lots of Cuban tunes, popular on 78s on the Gramophone and Victor label (known by the catalog numbers GV, sold by HMV), and Nico also brought some of his own folklore such as the Mutuashi dance to the repertoire, as these influences were combined into Rumba Lingala. From May 1963 through 1965, African Fiesta was one of the top bands in Kinshasa, releasing some 134 two-sided singles. But Nico discovered that Roger Izeidi, the band's manager, had made a deal to reissue 45s on ASL in Nairobi without consulting him. Nico fired him and told Rochereau he would be dealt with also. Rochereau quit and formed a new band, African Fiesta National to continue the sound (with a couple of guitarists mimicking Nico). Nico and his brother formed a new group African Fiesta Sukisa and this is where his creativity blossomed. This was the height of Nico's career: the Cuban covers now evolved into a full absorption of the son montuno sound into the framework of rumba lingala. The piano part and even the violin charanga part were transposed to the guitar. Trumpets were joined by flute and saxophone, played by Michel Ngoualali who left the Bantous to team up with Nico. Pierre Bazeta "Delafrance" joined on mi-solo guitar. With Rochereau gone, Nico relied on Valentin Sangana, Paul Mizélé, Dominique Dionga "Apôtre," Kwamy Munsi, and an exciting young singer, Etienne "Chantal" Kazadi whose vocal range reminded Nico of his old boss, Kabasele, and who also came from the Kasaï province.

This 3-LP compilation, beautifully restored from rare 45s, chronicles the height of this magnificent band. As a testament to the rarity of the material, many of the songs were not even known to the discographer (me) before now. For many fans, this will be like finding out the Beatles recorded another album between Rubber Soul and Revolver. Or, insert your favorite band name here. For me it is definitely African Fiesta Sukisa, so you can imagine I am overjoyed. It starts with pure jazz on "Mobali Nakobala (the young man of my dreams)," then breaks into pealing guitar before a quick fade. Up next is one of my all-time favorites "Nalingi yo na Motema," in a different, longer version from Ngoma than the single that appeared on Sonodisc CD 36516. In my research I noticed that when Ngoma reissued Sukisa tracks they quite often had the band rerecord them, so there are noticeable differences. The two versions of "Nalingi yo na motema" have different guitar solos of course. The first was recorded in 1968, the second (collected here) in 1969. The singer is Chantal, my absolute first choice from Nico's line-up. (I used a photo of him from Lonoh's book in my discography but was not actually sure it was really him; his biography surprisingly did not provide better images, but now we have a clear shot of him in this new compilation.)

While there were very few unremarkable tunes in the Sukisa catalogue (like Bovic's garage band covers), the Sonodisc compilations were thrown together with no thought to sequencing or presentation (I ripped them all to wav files and put them in chronological order). This LP set brings together 30 tunes, and the download adds a few more. One or two may be familiar but they are all exceptional. "Mokili makambo (The world and its problems)," sung by Valentin Sangana, is another masterpiece. It was voted Song of the Year in 1969. It's a kiri kiri (a dance invented by the band) and has a wicked turn-around in the bridge. The back-beat turns the rhythm on its head: this too is provided in an extended version. This release was part of new material and a new line-up launched in May 1969. "Ata Osali" (a.k.a. "La Jolie Bébé"), also in an extended mix from an Ngoma 45, pits Chantal's vocals against plaintiff soprano sax. Translations are given in French and English of all the original lyrics.

It's not until side B you hear a familiar tune, and that is another hit, "Bougie ya motema (The candle that lights my heart)," which not surprisingly features incandescent guitar from le Docteur. He plays a choppy "dry" solo by damping the strings suggesting, perhaps, a balafon. Up next is the lovely "Okosambuisa ngai (You humiliate me)," also known as "Jeanine," sung by Paul Mizélé who is one of the people who shares reminiscences of the band in the detailed liner notes. "Okosuka wapi (what will be your end)?" introduces the Kono dance, with Lessa Lassan and Josky Kiambukuta as vocalists, again with a wicked backbeat to it, and also a fine soprano sax solo, played by Michel Ngoualali. Nico dances around the melody, but then gets into serious needlework, embroidering the tune on the galloping "Kamungaziko (No hard feelings)" performed by Lessa Lassan, with a trumpet solo over the Kono rhythm. Lassan's kiri kiri "Baoulé" has never been reissued in any form, which is amazing as it is proof that almost everything this band did was exceptional. In fact if you look at the doctored cover photo, there is Nico holding up a copy of this very single.

After Chantal's departure and tragic death, Nico invited Julie Kabwiza into the band and here she sings a "madre rumba," a musical style hard to characterize as it combines elements of kiri kiri and rumba, it is another lost gem which also mystified the discographer. Side E is an entire set of the great Cuban adaptations of the band, cha-chas, pachangas and descargas, adapted from Johnny Pacheco, Arsenio Rodriguez, Conjunto Casino and other rootsy Cuban bands of the 50s and 60s which would have been familiar to the Sukisa crew from GV 78s and early Fania LPs. This side ends with the spiraling, vertiginous "Para Bailar," containing one of Nico's most brilliant compressed solos.

There is still a whole side left, to showcase the folkloric side of the band which brought massive criticism onto Nico's head at the time (1972). "Exhibition show" includes traditional Luba balafons, showing the roots of the mutuashi sound as Nico solos over the top, throwing some very blue notes into the mix. Again, I had never heard this stunning track before. We also hear both sides of a mini opera, featuring some Lomongo folk music from an obscure single that was spurned by the fans at the time.

Everyone knows that Nico was called "the God of the Guitar" by the fans (long before Clapton was given the sobriquet). While this is hyperbole, this set displays Nico's brilliance anew. Nico's children collaborated on the production: his daughter Titi loaned the family photo album which has been reproduced, presenting a window to Nico's domestic and public life: house parties, hanging out with friends, and as a father. Despite the long-held notion that African Fiesta and OK Jazz were rivals, there is a shot of Nico and his wife as best man and bridesmaid at the wedding of Lutumba Simaro, the main composer for OK Jazz after Franco. Above all we see Nico as a devoted family man, plus there are of course many candid shots of him in concert. Finally there is a huge crowd of mourners for Nico's funeral, and a farewell concert from OK Jazz.

Having played this set scores of times while working on the compilation, I have to say Bart Cattaert did a great job of sequencing the music and creating an immersive mood that puts you firmly in the land of Sukisa for a very dreamy couple of hours.

AFRICAN FIESTA
ROGER IZEIDI PRESENTS VITA MATATA WITH AFRICAN FIESTA (Planet Ilunga PI-14)

To add to the riches of the African Fiesta Sukisa triple-album, Planet Ilunga is also releasing a new double album of African Fiesta, the earlier band formed by Roger, Nico and Rochereau when they broke away from Joseph Kabasele, taking most of the African Jazz musicians with them. The split took place when the band was going to Europe to perform and record: Kabasele was in Léopoldville, getting married. Although they would be expected to perform for the nuptials, the band skipped the wedding, snubbing their dictatorial leader who had started using their wages to pay the bar tabs he would run up. While they were in Belgium they got a telegram from the boss saying they couldn't use the African Jazz name without him present, so they simply decided to rename themselves. This was not their first fracture. Earlier a splinter group formed African Jazz ailé Nico (or the Nico wing) but they had been reconciled with the grand Kallé. The bulk of their repertoire was "rumba lingala" or covers of Cuban cha-chas, boleros and son montunos, with forays into other Caribbean music such as merengue and biguine, or even further afield into highlife and twist. They sang in Lingala, French and Indoubil, their own street patois. Every now and then a piece of Baluba folklore would be performed by Nico and his brother Dechaud. Rochereau who had come to Kabasele as a teenager with songs he was writing would be dismayed to find the boss singing the material himself and even taking songwriting credit. But now it was Tabu Ley's turn, as he took songs of young Pablito (Pamelo Mounka'a) and Sangana and claimed them as his own, e.g. "Nadie no puede" (Vita 60), "Nin'zi" (Vita 67), or Vita 115 "Dit Coco" among others. Tabu had an angelic voice, not one you'd associate with a scheming deceiver! However Fonior at that time paid the composer a 10 franc royalty per disc sold, so Rochereau was netting over a million Belgian francs per year. (This is not such a rare occurrence: at the same time in England, Alan Price put himself down as composer/arranger of "The House of the Rising Sun," which netted him millions. The Animals' singer Eric Burdon later said if he could go back in time he would murder Price!)

But as ever the star attraction here is the innovative lead guitar of Nico Kasanda and the adaptation of the Cuban rhythms with great arrangements and storming percussion: Fracasseur on drums (who composed the grooving "Matulekele" heard here), Diluvila Baskis on conga and claves, and rock solid Kaya Depuissant on tumba are the power trio behind the sound. Roger, the band manager, is credited as maraca player, as is Avéré, but there are no guiro or timbales you'd expect to hear in Cuban covers. The set was licensed from the estate of Vita label owner Roger Izeidi whose younger brother Futu (aka Faugus) claimed to be the inventor of mi-solo guitar. That and other dubious claims are made in his biography published after no other band members remained alive to discredit him. Sam Mangwana of course is still among us, but as a young man he only had a passing connection with the band and never travelled to Brussels with them to record, which is a shame. Faugus says his first mi-solo performance is in the Eddie Palmieri cover "Mama Egée" which was recorded in 1963, with Nico on lap steel as well as lead guitar. Vincent Kenis has pointed out earlier examples of mi-solo in Les Bantous and other groups before this date. Also there is no mention of Faugus' work in any of the standard histories of Congolese music such as Sylvain Bemba's Cinquante ans de musique du Congo-Zaïre, 1920-70 (Présence africaine, 1984) or Nimy's Dictionnaire des Immortels de la Musique Congolaise Moderne (Academia Bruylant, 2012).

I listen to the early rumba lingala sound of African Fiesta a lot. When I first discovered the band I acquired as many of their recordings as I could find and discovered that many of their tunes were covers of Cuban originals, so my next quest became tracking down the sources. The same occurred with my discovery of early Senegalese music, where the sources are more apparent. This is a funny way of getting into Cuban music. A glance at my CD shelf shows I have 12 linear feet of Cuban CDs and about the same quantity of Congolese music. I do have much more Congolese music on vinyl and cassette, so ultimately it wins out. And I have more music by Franco than anyone else, but only because he was more prolific. However Dr Nico is one of my household gods and probably the rivalry with OK Jazz (generated by their fans) spurred African Fiesta to their feats of virtuosity. A lot of that greatness is on display here: some of it new to me, the fanatic collector. A couple of late recordings by Kwamy are boleros which have haunting Hawaiian guitar by Nico and also great sax by Armando, so they actually surpass the great boleros of Franco, in my opinion. The focus here is on Roger, and there are no Nico or Dechaud compositions, which will doubtless appear in a future release. The album opens with an extended version of "Biguine Willy" led by trumpeter Willy Mbembe who started out at Loningisa as a member of OK Jazz. The melody is probably a Martiniquan folksong given a romping arrangement. This is followed by one of the rarities of the catalog which has long puzzled me: "Oh Esto y de Irvaba Cumabo" which is credited to Eduardo de Veracruz Vinagre et son Orchestre, and it does sound like a mambo band, but has Nico's Hawaiian guitar all over it. (This track and its flipside "En Guantanamo" are also available as a 7" single.) "Saoco" is another Cuban cover and equally rare, with Batetela drumming and a hard groove from Dechaud driving it along: the longest track on here, it breaks down to studio banter and returns in force. Far removed from the trova ballad by Rosendo Ruiz Suarez it is based on, it is an outstanding jam and compares favorably to the hit version by Sonora Matancera with Celia Cruz. Another Celia tune, "Ritmo de Azucar" (also covered by Orqesta Aragon) was reworked as "Rithmo ya Suka" and became one of African Fiesta's earliest smash hits. Of the two dozen tracks here, half appeared on Sonodisc LPs in the 90s, but only two made it to their CD compilations, while of the twelve "new" releases, three are completely unknown to the discographer, again testifying to the depth of research and discovery by Planet Ilunga.

After the split of African Fiesta into the Nico and Rochereau factions (AF National and AF Sukisa) in 1966, Depuissant retired rather than choose a side. Pamelo Mounka'a had to leave the country when the Brazzavilleois were expelled by Mobutu. His rare track, "Nadie no puede" is included here. Roger continued the Vita label for a while releasing some tracks of his new band, the "National" wing, such as "Mocrano," "Toyota" and "Picnic ya Nsele," but the rift signaled the demise of one of the most creative collaborations of the early Congolese rumba scene. And now you can hear it on this wonderful two LP set.

NOURA MINT SEYMALI
YENBETT (Glitterbeat)

For about a dozen years now Noura Mint Seymali has been known internationally as a fantastic griot singer from Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania which sits on a high plateau overlooking the Atlantic coast of West Africa. Seymali may have remained in obscurity but for an enterprising American producer named Matthew Tinari who sought her out and recorded her a dozen years ago. In addition he booked her on global tours and the resulting collaboration with her, and her guitar-playing husband, has made her a chart topper in the larger world of "world music". Tinari is not only a fine producer, knowing when to turn on the Echoplex, but he also plays drums with an intensity that might remind you of John Bonham or his African equivalents. But the key instrument here is the electric guitar played by Jeich Ould Chighaly which rocks relentlessly. Seymali also plays ardine (a type of harp), while her husband doubles on tidinit (a stringed instrument similar to an ngoni) and there is Ousmane Touré on electric bass. Despite the thundering power trio backing her, Seymali manages to be heard above the massed instruments. Noura Mint Seymali is the step-daughter of Dimi Mint Abba and carries on the fine tradition of the great griot or praise-singers from West Africa. Her modernization of traditional music has also been appreciated in her homeland. Call it psychedelic rock or Saharan funk, it is unique and beyond anything normally called sub-Saharan blues or categorized in such fashion. Her previous two albums graced my top tens in their years of release and her continued dominance as a musical force is assured with this powerful set.

SYRAN MBENZA
RUMBA AFRICA (Sterns Music HYSADIG1133)

I don't know who else, among Congolese artists, is still making music at this level. Syran Mbenza has a great pedigree as a guitarist and played alongside many of the greats, including Sam Mangwana's African All-Stars and Les Quatre Etoiles (in both of which bands he partnered with Bopol Mansiamina), but he has also changed styles, going from supercharged soukous to unplugged with Kékélé, and now he casts a retrospective glance over the whole recorded history of Congolese music. And in this album he does it beautifully. The first half consists of his own compositions; the second half are choice tunes reaching back to Ngoma 78s and picking rare gems from Camille Feruzi or Tino Baroza, or digging into the hits of Franco and OK Jazz from the Editions Populaires era. Two of the singers here were in OK Jazz: Malage de Lugendo and Wuta Mayi. Ballou Canta from Soukous Stars is present along with old friend Nyboma, whose heritage is equally impressive. He is considered one of the finest singers ever to come out of Central Africa. Syran, of course, is a superlative guitarist and has increasingly identified with the Franco sound: the two-fingered lead attack and compositions in the Rumba Odemba style. In fact his composition here, "Rumba o Demba," sung by Wuta Mayi is very much in the laid-back OK Jazz ballad style, and features Camerounian Jimmy Mvondo on sax. Syran has been perfecting this sound since his tribute to Luambo album, Immortal Franco (2009), if not earlier. The high tenor of Nyboma sings forth on his own song "Pepe," a tribute to his former bandmate Pepe Kalle. They started out together as young pups in the Verckys stable with the Soki brothers in Bella Bella. Reaching further back we hear the tune "Siluvangi" by Camille Feruzi (praising a Kinshasa bar), performed by Viviane Arnoux on accordeon who moved from the clody musette to maringa style seamlessly. For a few decades she was a stalwart member of Papa Noel's band and also toured with Sam Mangwana. Franco, in fact, revived the old-timer Feruzi's career because he remembered his dad enjoyed listening to the accordéon and it fit with Mobutu's image of "authenticité"; so he invited him to reprise a couple of his numbers on an early OK Jazz album. For balance we get a classic African Jazz number, "Germaine": a full-on Latin groove with Malage de Lugendo and Wuta Mayi sharing lead vocals. There's a video of the original on youtube and the sonic difference is marked, but in terms of the arrangement, the new version soars in richness and complexity, like this bottle of Old Vine Zinfandel I just uncorked! The album ends with an elegant bolero, "Lola," originally sung by Kwamy with OK Jazz and now given a lush arrangement and sparkling guitar by Mbenza. He has a reliable circle of friends, sadly the fourth star, Bopol Mansiamina is no longer alive, but with Wuta Mayi and Nyboma and his rhythm section he is well grounded.

PELENGANA BLO
HUNTER FOLK VOL II: TRIBUTE TO BANTOMA SANOGO (Mieruba-ML)

Pelengana Blo is the stage name of Pah Diarra, keeper of the Donso foli style of Mandé folk music in Ségou. There are two other regions of Mali that keep this traditional hunters' music alive and they also use the donso n'goni. Blo studied with the late Bantoma Sanogo so this album is his tribute to his teacher and predecessor, who never recorded but concentrated on playing and performing in ritual ceremonies. We cheat death by suspending time, and our main ways of doing this are reading and listening to music, and music such as this puts us in a wonderful state of suspended animation while we are carried away on its deep rhythms and undercurrents. The album was recorded live in 2019 with an ambient mike as Blo doesn't use a pick-up. He sings and is backed by Nitié Koné on keregne or metal scraper. There are also small rings attached to the body of the n'goni which rattle as the performer moves the instrument. The engineer (Ahmed Fofana) also added echo to the voices which occasionally drop out as the instrument goes into a trance-like repetitive mode. Previously Mieruba issued volume one, by Nfaly Diakité from Wassoulou, which was a tribute to Toumani Koné, his teacher. As Mali is in upheaval again, the producers decided to release this album digitally instead of waiting for a break in the political weather. Thus the traditions are manifest, developed and passed on from generation to generation. Fragile is it seems, this continuity keeps the music vital and we feel it stretching back into antiquity as the mood envelops us.

SON PALENQUE
RINCON DE AFRICA (Palenque Records)

This is traditional drum and vocal music from the coastal forests of Colombia. Nothing exists in a vacuum (apart from maybe some tribes in New Guinea or the Amazon we haven't met yet) so they have added a sprightly electric guitar in the soukous style to their arrangements, along with bass and alto sax. These elements, even sparingly used, create tension and lyrical interest and add enough variety to keep the listener engaged. It's a good set from the veterans.

AFRICA SHANGAZI: MORE EARLY 80s BENGA & RUMBA FROM EAST AFRICA (No Wahala Sound)

There's no doubt No Wahala Sound love East African music as much as I do. They love the music so much it overflows their records, so now they offer another LP packed with scintillating Benga and what I have called "Congo in Kenya" music: electrifying performances by expatriate Congolese bands, playing and recording in Nairobi in the 70s and 80s. But here we have only two full length numbers and six partial tracks, either part one or part two of a 45 single, which of course leave us gasping for the complete set. If you buy the LP you will get a CD of the full tracks, so the album falls between the two popular formats; I feel this approach is flawed. Of the short cuts, Sega Sega Band's "Jirani part 1" is a fine rumba outing. The highlight of the album is one of the full-length songs: "Juliana" by orchestre Liwanza Komecha. I have it on 45 and it is a really magical number. The group is Lifenya Lorri and members of Special Liwanza, an outgrowth of Boma Liwanza, a band formed by Lovy Longomba and Jim Monimambo around 1979. Other members (I speculate) include Sammy Kasule (singer/bass), Loboko Passi (rhythm guitar), Tabu Frantal (lead guitar) and possibly other members of Moreno's band (I think that's him singing backup on here) or Shika Shika, such as Monimambo (vocals). There's a killer guitar part which boils under then erupts at 2'35" in a giddy gallop that is almost like a country music picked riff. But the guitarist (Tabu?) has more ideas up his sleeve and the song evolves constantly. Speaking of Monimambo, the other full length track is "Diana" from Shika Shika, a seriously underestimated Congolese band from Kenya, and this is one of the great Shika shakers. Issa Juma and Les Wanyika deliver "Matatizo Nimeyazoea" part one; this is a number where part two is really strong starting with blistering double guitar lead over a barely ticking drum kit, and then the horns start punching. Despite the truncated qualities, this is still a great anthology. The sparse cover notes tell us that three of the tracks, all of which were licensed from AIT, were remastered by the late Doug Paterson. New to me are Les Kizai Zai who deliver "Jaqueline," which sadly has pops on it, which are so easy to fix: there's even freeware to do this, and basic remastering, from Audacity. So, buy the vinyl, play the CD.

Year to date, in review

(click on maps at the top of the page to get to continent of choice)

November 2025

Bizimungu Dieudonne from Rwanda, is filed under African miscellany
Philip Tabane and Malombo's Sangoma is filed in South Africa part 2
Los Wemblers can be found in Peru part 2
The Last Poets' Africanism is filed in USA part 2

October 2025

I put Cheikh Lo's latest, Maame, in Senegal part 4
The return of Radio Tarifa can be discovered in Euro misc
Salsa Dura from the Discos Fuentes Vaults is bound for Colombia part 3
Alhaji K. Frimpong, both Black and Blue albums are reviewed in Ghana part 2

September 2025

Mahotella Queens' latest is filed in South Africa, part 2
Ahmed Mukhtar and Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde's Al-hambra can be found in Old World misc
Alick Nkhata's Radio Lusaka is heard in Zambia
Nadir Ben is filed in Algeria
Los Estrellas del Caribe &
Grupo Son San are found in Colombia part 3

July 2025

Edna Martinez is filed in world miscellany, though her music is from Colombia
Music for a Revolution is definitely from Guinea
Gasper Nali and his babatoni can be found in Malawi
Haris Pilton and Balkan Voodoo Orchestra is in the Balkan and Gypsy section
Petit Goro's Dogon Blues went to Mali, part six!

June 2025

Ammar 808's latest Club Tounsi is filed in Arabia part 3
African Jazz invites OK Jazz can be found in Congo Classics part 2
Serbians Sekoyva are filed in Balkan & Gypsy beats
Tigray Tears' album is filed in Ethiopia
The Groove Africa compilation from Putumayo is filed in Africa misc

May 2025

Zulu Guitar Blues is filed in South Africa, part 2
Kwashibu Area Band are filed in Ghana part 2
Youssou's Eclairer le Monde is in Senegal part 4
Les Abranis can be read about in Algeria
Salif Keita's latest is in Mali part 6
Fanfare Ciocarlia is filed under Gypsy Brass
Ozan Baysal, from Turkey, is filed under Old World misc

April 2025

Tsapiky! is music from Madagascar
Orquesta Akokán's latest is filed in Cuba part 4
Trio da Kali is filed in Mali part 6
Mike Guagenti is filed in Salsa

March 2025

The latest from Baianasystem can be found in Brasil part 3
Sweet Rebels: The Golden Age of Algerian Pop-Rai is filed in Algeria
Damily & Toliara Tsapiky Band are filed in Madagascar
Two new anthologies of Gnonnas Pedro are in Benin
Muslim Shaggan can be read about in India & Pakistan II
The Original Sound of Mali vol II is filed in Mali part 6

February 2025

Novalima's latest can be read about in Peru part 2
Aboubacar Traoré & Balima is filed in Burkina Faso
Tumblack are from the Caribbean
Brooklyn Sounds are filed under Salsa

...

PAST TOP TENS BY YEAR

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BACK IN PRINT (Second edition, November 2012)

A DISCOGRAPHY OF DOCTEUR NICO
By Alastair Johnston

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