Eastern Soul

It's summertime here in the Western hemisphere and so at times, life slows down as we spend more and more time back in the outdoors, cherishing those moments in the sun, taking in life's treats to the fullest. Call it a perfect fit for the downtempo experimental electronics that rising Argentinian producer Muno has been dropping.

Deemed slowhouse with an ethic, tribal touch, Muno just released his debut EP "Mawu" on São Paulo's Tropical Twista Records and it [...]

"We have our own blues band. It isn't bad; it only sounds that way," reads the opening line in Malian singer and guitarist Samba Touré's brand new music video to "Goy Boyro", the opening track off his forthcoming third longplayer on Glitterbeat Records. And indeed, the first sounds that hit you are not what you might expect:

“It’s contemporary music from Mali,” Touré insists. “Maybe our traditional music has changed. We live all in the same world [...]

Today, we would like to rewind to an album released in 2015 on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, being the debut longplayer of then 22-year-old Afro-Cuban singer Daymé Arocena entitled "Nueva Era". Arocena has since released her equally enticing sophomore album "Cubafonía" in 2017, but "Nueva Era" in our humble opinion deserves another look or rather listen.

"Nueva Era" sees the classically trained Daymé Arocena combine "the intertwining musical [...]

About this time a year ago, the Hamburg-based vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Derya Yıldırım and her outernational Grup Şimşek super-quintet released their superb "Nem Kaldı" EP to much acclaim. Now, the group returns with an equally impressive one-off track, to be physically released this month on the forthcoming "Saz Power"* compilation via German vinyl only imprint Ironhand Records (run by Cem Şeftalicioğlu and Ercan Demirel)

"Üç Kız Bir Ana" [...]

Rising South African house music collective Batuk, centered around acclaimed producer/MC Spoek Mathambo and the striking artist/performer/vocalist Manteiga, is one of those acts you need to have on your radar. Their mission is to "connect the African diaspora through rhythm culture and language", which is exactly what they have been doing, ever since they dropped their debut EP "Daniel" at the start of 2016, only to follow-up with their equally vibrant debut [...]

This one has been a long time coming and by that we mean us featuring the amazing Jupiter & Okwess from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now in his mid-50s, frontman Jean-Pierre Bokondji, aka Jupiter, has led his group to international acclaim, but arguably remains somewhat of an unsung hero.

Born in Kinshasa in 1963 (three years after Congo gained its independence from Belgium), Jupiter spent his formative years living in the Tanzanian Dar-es-Salam as well [...]

Working out of Paris, Les Mains Noires are a versatile, multi-faceted collective of like-minded "music and image lovers" that run their own blog, which serves as a treasure trove for far away sounds.

Digging deeper and deeper into early Caribbean recordings and back from a recent trip to the island of Guadeloupe in the French West Indies, My Old Friend Fred Martin put together a mix of 13 amazing finds (tracklist below), combining "the very best of the 'Bel [...]

Founded this year by DJ/producer, percussionist and avid record collector Déni Shain (Space Echo, Pop Makossa), Marseille-based Atangana Records is set to drop its eagerly awaited first release on May 4th. Originally issued in 1981 the label's premier 12" features the acclaimed single "Divizion" by Haitian singer Fédia Laguerre along with a remix by French afro-disco collective Voilaaa as well as an additional instrumental cut, which recently premiered on The [...]

Ghanaian legend Ebo Taylor has been in the music business for over 60 years and just released a brand new longplayer entitled "Yen Ara" on the London-based Mr Bongo imprint: "Listen to Yen Ara and you will not only hear the high-energy afrobeat, sweet highlife, jazz and konkoma influences that he’s famous for. There is also a disco pulse and hard-hitting percussive edge to the tracks, which were produced by Justin Adams (Tinariwen, Rachid Taha, Robert [...]

Upon listening to the piping hot sounds of Istanbul's Cüneyt Sepetçi, you may very well find yourself at a loss for words. As the virtuosic clarinetist delivers a mesmerising trip into modern Turkish wedding and (circumcision) party music, words indeed, seem highly unnecessary. This is a celebratory music made for dancing, rooted deeply in Turkish and the surrounding regions' culture, "which each generation innovates and develops". Released at the tail end [...]

What would seem like somewhat of a contradiction, a champion boxer fighting for peace, is essentially the story of Mushapata. Hailing from the city of Bukavu, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the border with Burundi, Mushapata Kabangu emigrated to France in the late '70s to pursue a career as a professional boxer. However, confronted with the realities of the sports industry, he eventually became a personal protection agent. As such he escorted [...]

Fresh off the holiday weekend, we would like to share with you this upbeat musical homage to the great Ambassador Osayomore Joseph, by the London-based MogaDisco crew, a passionate collective curating the African continent's "finest sounds". Recently released as The Vinyl Factory's mix #129, the 50-minute selection pays tribute to an extraordinary personality and formidable musician, who has been likened to "the Fela Kuti of Benin".

Hailing from Benin City, [...]