[coll]: African Rebel Music: Roots, Reggae and Dancehall (Out | Here)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 3/17/07
Reggae and Dancehall and some purely African derivatives, from all over Sub-Saharan Africa. Reading the copious liner notes will give you a good idea of just how much music is out there in the world that we NEVER get to hear – so it’s great to have a comp like this available, from the heart of Africa!
FCCs on track 12. There are only a couple of tracks that I don’t love like crazy, faves are 5, 7, 15 , 17.
1. 3:03 ***midtempo bouncy dancehall, definitely a booty-shaker, pretty male singing in an African language, dancehall rap in English. Highly listenable. Ends very abruptly.
2. 4:21 ***midtempo bouncy roots bubble with pretty female chorus, rather crazed male vocals, female rapper in English, several different vocalists.
3. 4:02 ***starts with a bit of processed vocal, then slightly uptempo skank with a classic sound including some syndrum, then dancehall vocals from a variety of voices. Dunno what the language is.
4. 4:05 ***downtempo, rather relaxed roots rock reggae, gorgeous male vocals in French (from his Coup de Guelle CD, which we have.)
5. 4:07 ****guitars intro, very unique midtempo combo of hip hop, reggae, and indigenous African beats – almost sounds a bit Latin, male vocals mostly in African language.
6. 4:07 ***wacky intro, midtempo “bongo flava” – Swahili dancehall with a bit of ragga (actually really sounds quite a bit like Reggaeton)… Fun.
7. 4:46 ****preaching and thumb piano intro, then downtempo skank with singing in English and dancehall rap in mixed up African/English. Really interesting stuff – seems to be moments of female Indian singing.
8. 6:17 ***couple of guys yelling a conversation at start, then slightly downtempo roots skank, dancehall vocals in heavily accented English, about Sensi.
9. 5:12 **a bit of ragga preaching, then slightly downtempo roots bubble. Rather subdued beat, lots of synth strings and syndrum. Singing mostly in English, but some African language as well. Several voices, male and female.
10. 3:41 ***bit of dancehall vocalizing without music, then uptempo bubble with several dancehall voices in different languages, bits of “Dread Natty Dread”.
11. 4:35 ***pretty vocal harmonizing, then very bouncy slightly downtempo dancehall with lots of electronics, female chorus in English, male rap in heavily accented English.
12. 3:45 FCCs – “Shit” x 2 **male introduction, female dancehall vocals in English and French and African. Uses “niggas” a lot, unfortunately.
13. 4:02 **electronica intro building slowly, male preaching sounds a bit like Burning Spear. Midtempo minimalist skank, a bit over-produced IMO. Ends with pure vocal harmonies.
14. 4:10 ***rather uptempo roots skank, gorgeous male singing in English. Big production and chorus, a bit slick but not enough to kill it. Big electric guitar and preaching.
15. 3:55 ****very rootsy African vocals and percussion intro, then big midtempo dancehall bounce, male rap in South African language, lots of bop in the music and in the vocals. Funky guitar and horn. Fun!
16. 3:04 ***pure dancehall, again almost a bit of Reggaeton. Lots of voices, male dancehall rap in English.
17. 5:37 ****thumb piano and dancehall yells. Midtempo dancehall groove with lots of percussion and indigenous instruments, several voices. Sweet! ENDS about 1:20 shy, then really cute bit of acoustic guitar and kids singing.