Welcome to the house that Kahil El'Zabar built. For decades now, Chicago's hugely innovative, "legendary multi-percussionist and spiritual jazz master Kahil El'Zabar [has been on a] quest of spirit through groove." It comes as no surprise then, that his latest, June-released album alongside fellow spirit-searcher and "tenor sax colossus" David Murray is simply entitled "Spirit Groove". Spanning over four decades the two have collaborated on a multitude of [...]

Afropentatonism... say it out loud, read it again to make sure you got all the letters right and then just let it seep in and gently take effect. What might be mistaken for a cult or a new brand of metal music rooted in African tradition turns out to be neither nor. Instead, "Afropentatonism" references the pentatonic scale, which many claim to be the world's oldest scale. With its five notes per octave the pentatonic scale dates all the way back to ancient [...]

If you've listened to or possibly even added Etuk Ubong's 2018-released "Black Debtors" 7-inch to your collection, then you're already in the know and will likely agree to Seun Kuti calling him "one of the best things to come out of Lagos." The Nigerian trumpeter, composer and bandleader with his home-cooked 'Earth Music' style is a veritable musical force to be reckoned with. For his latest feat he's now teamed up with London/Haarlem-based imprint Night [...]

The BBC's Focus on Africa programme called this "a very special album" and we couldn't agree more. While collecting music to put on our "Greedy for May" playlist on Spotify a few weeks back, we previewed the first available tracks of "The Dancing Devils of Djibouti" by Groupe RTD, aka "one of East Africa's best kept secrets," and were deeply impressed. Now fully released and available via Ostinato Records, we can't wait to share the story of the first-ever [...]

This period of being at home more and reflecting on life, the state of affairs and current world order has come with the immediate benefit of consuming even more music. Although the lack of revenue for streaming of any kind remains an issue that needs to be addressed, we can't say we haven't revelled in the abundance of music being released, shared and performed live on screen at the moment. As such, we ourselves have made a load of new discoveries. But it also [...]

In other transatlantic news, Berlin-based Man Recordings founder, DJ and producer Daniel Haaksman returns with a superb dancefloor-friendly exploration of the Afro-Latin diaspora for BBE Music. Haaksman has long made a name for himself as a transcontinental curator of global, tropical and future bass tunes – ever since his seminal "Rio Baile Funk Favela Booty Beats" compilation in 2004 – steadily cultivating aural dialogues between Europe, South America and [...]

A few months ago, when commercial air travel was still a thing, we visited our second home on the Bosphorus. During our stay, we had the opportunity to meet with Esma and Murat Ertel (lead singer and electric saz player of experimental Istanbul psych-formation Baba Zula) in a coffee house in the neighbourhood of Levent on the occasion of their soon-to-be and meanwhile recently released "Uzelli Elektro Saz" album, compiled from the extensive archives of the [...]

In 1976, the legendary Erkin Koray, one of the pioneers of Anatolian rock music, released a track called "Cümbür Cemaat", which roughly translates to 'all together now'. Almost five decades later, today, Frankfurt-based producer and partisan of Balkan music styles Shantel teams up with Istanbul-based outfit Cümbüş Cemaat – notice the play on words, 'cümbüş' referring to an oud- or mandolin-like Turkish instrument as well as a 'merrymaking' – to [...]

As many countries across the globe have slowly begun to lift certain precautionary measures, in an attempt to aid their struggling economies, social distancing remains a global issue. Naturally, those who can still choose to stay at home as much as possible. Yet, even though this is a time of separation for most of us, there is also a growing need for support, solidarity and togetherness, if only virtual, to alleviate the effects of social isolation. In [...]

The Vikings from Guadeloupe...we'll let that resonate for a minute, before we proceed. These 1960s legends from the French Antilles are the pioneers of Biguine jazz as well as the archipelago's first true rockstars. In many ways "they embodied the same spirit of liberty and anti-conformism" as other leading international bands and artists of the times and "with their unorthodox dress sense reinvented the music of the tropics and shook up its conventions."

Their [...]

It's only been about two months, but considering the current isolated situation, it seems like ages ago that we thoroughly rejoiced over Kutiman's blazing desert funk EP "Saluf", containing two standout tracks that were just what we had been hoping to hear from the multi-talented Israeli producer. While that record is still grooving on our turntable, here comes another adventurous, jazz-infused piece of music by the man himself, entitled "Layla". 

Releasing [...]

Listening is key. This is one of the motifs that has been a recurrent theme in our daily work and still rings true. We listen and thus we learn. We discover new music by listening to the music others discover before us and follow their lead. Then, we introduce others to the music we value, hoping they'll listen, and so on and so forth. It was listening to Danish vocalist, producer and dj Astrid Engberg's "Djiguiya Mix" for Copenhagen-based record shop Palmspree [...]