Soul Jazz back in Port-au-Prince after twenty years, to record again with the Drummers of the Société Absolument Guinin. Mesmeric rhythms and beats traditionally used to induce spirit possession in the Vodou religion — ‘dynamic and riveting in their intricacy and power,’ said the Quietus about the first volume.

Two EPs of storming, squinty Shangaan Electro to herald the European tour of Tiyiselani, the Tshetshas and producer Dog, in the summer of 2011.

A zinging survey of the dazzlingly diverse, thrilling, neglected releases of Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali’s Kayes region, who settled in France in 1977. He started out by selling wax, kola nuts, and other items in Paris; and in no time he was distributing cassette tapes, on his way to producing a multitude of recordings for his own label, Camara Production. A fascinating, precious insight into the modern diaspora of ancient Soninke culture, spanning out as Malian zouk, Mauritanian reggae, and a myriad of grooving, head-spinning directions. Prepared in full collaboration with Gaye Camara; with riso-printed notes.

Warda Ftouki is one of the great Arab divas of the twentieth century.
Aka Warda Al-Jazairia, Warda the Algerian was forced to leave Algeria in 1956, when FLN guns were discovered in her dad’s nightclub. (Warda was a lifelong, unflinching supporter of independence.)
Aged twenty, now singing in Beirut cabarets, she became the protege of Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Returning to Algeria after independence in 1961, she took a ten year break from singing, because this was forbidden by her new husband. She left him in 1972, moving to Egypt, where she married Baligh Hamdi.
Here she is in 1973, singing a composition by Hamdi, backed by a full Egyptian orchestra, including electric guitar and organ, in front of a euphoric, adoring crowd.
Wonderful music — swirling and grooving with dazzling virtuosity; imperiously funky and giddily soulful.

The great Algerian diva of Arab song — a Dilla favourite, incidentally — accompanied by a full-sized orchestra, augmented by electric guitar and organ, in a characteristically grooving, classy composition by her old man Baligh Hamdi. This reissue features newly remastered audio, the original cassette artwork, and a two-page insert with a new introduction by Mario Choueiry from the Institut du Monde Arabe

Andaleeb Wasif was a self-taught singer and harmonium player, born in Hyderabad, India, in 1928.
Here are six ravishing ghazals, setting some of the greatest Urdu poetry of the twentieth century, about love and longing.
Enigmatic, filled with pathos, timeless.

Discos Fuentes fire, rare as hens’ teeth, from 1975.
La Torta is first out of the oven, with a Colombian take on Haitian compas which was soundsystem murder, back in the day. The wild Fiebre De Lepra was the 45 — funky wah-wah guitar, makossa-style bass, manic organ, and feverishly insane vocals by Wilson ‘Saoko’ Manyoma and Joe Arroyo — backed with the heavy, strutting El Caterete, based on the 1970 Brazilian recording by Marku Ribas. The off-kilter funk and stomping breaks of Tifit Hayed have created a tropical dance floor favourite in recent years, boasting a massive Latin bass line, tasty Farfisa organ stabs, a bluesy, jazzy piano solo, propulsive cowbell, and daft animal noises.

Precious witness to the dying musical traditions of Ladakh, high in the Western Himalayas, for centuries a hub of the Silk Road to India, Tibet, and Kashmir.

Summery, joyous, experimental pop; full of musical surprises and emotional twists and turns. The lush brass and woodwind arrangements are guided by Antonio Neves. Classic songwriting and cutting edge production, lit up by the beauty and chaos of Rio, and its sounds and rhythms; inspired by the pioneers of Música Popular Brasileira.

The multi-faceted genius of Eugene ‘Yonachak’ Cline, producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer from St Lucia, beautifully presented by Hornin’, with top-notch, live-and-kicking sound, in a gorgeous sleeve.
It’s a gripping, crazy mix. Deep, mid-seventies roots, Half Moon style, extended, with an instrumental, and ace dubs; nuts but banging late-eighties digi; off-the-wall rasta-soca fire.
Great stuff.

This is terrific.
Scintillating, masterful, roaring, classic Cubanismo, beautifully recorded in 2017 at the storied Areito Studio in Havana.
Descargas, jazz, boogaloo, son… and some ritual music to bring the curtain down. You’ll find yourself hungry for more.
The musicianship is dazzling in every corner of the orchestra; set on fire by the timbales of Changuito (from Los Van Van), and booted along by a hard-swinging, full brass section led by trumpeter Julito Padron, graduate of the legendary septet Nacional de Igacio Pinero, and later Irakere. The sound is steeped in tradition but by no means stuck in the past.
The vinyl is beautifully presented in a heavyweight, high-gloss gatefold.
Joyous, superb music; the real deal. Hotly recommended.

Lovely new recordings of maloya music, from Reunion, in the Indian Ocean.
Heartfelt singing amidst bustling, organic percussion, featuring kayanm shakers and berimbau-style bobre, with a pendulous bottom end.

A fabulous selection of Swahili popular music from the East African coast — Lamu, Mombasa, Tanga, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and the Comoros — taking in Tanzanian dance-band music, Congolese-style rumba and the hypnotic, Islamic sounds of Taarab, from the 1960s to date.