Best Music of Zimbabwe

(Vinyl LP) Reissue of classic album from Yusef Lateef (sax, oboe, flute) recorded in 1961.

Young and old ears will delight in the magical sounds of mbira, balaphone, kora, a capella vocals, guitar, bamboo flutes, dundun, and talking drum. The lyrics sing of folklore, family, and village life in the traditional languages of the Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, and South Africa. Commencing with the bewitching Zulu harmonies of Ladysmith Black Mambazo , "Thula Mtwana" sets the tone, creating an atmosphere of warmth, safety, and peace, and is followed by a baker's dozen that reflect the gentle rhythms of an abundantly diverse continent.

Like the luscious drink itself, the tunes come in many intensities and flavors, ranging from a light-as-air ditty from Peru, to the more complex vocal stylings of Colombia's Claudia Gomez , to Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca 's earthy Afro-Cuban Congolese rumba.

Like the luscious drink itself, the tunes come in many intensities and flavors, ranging from a light-as-air ditty from Peru, to the more complex vocal stylings of Colombia's Claudia Gomez , to Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca 's earthy Afro-Cuban Congolese rumba.

Zambian Acapella.

Talking Timbuktu features Guitarist Ali Farka Touré singing in 11 languages and playing acoustic and electric guitar, six-string banjo, njarka, and percussion, while teaming smartly with an all-star cast that includes superstar fusion bassist John Patitucci, session drummer Jim Keltner, longtime roots music great Ry Cooder (who doubled as producer), venerable guitarist Gatemouth Brown, and such African percussionists and musicians as Hamma Sankare on calabash and Oumar Touré on congas.

The three tracks that comprise this disc, all lengthy improvisations, showcase El Din's remarkably fluid technique and his Nubian roots, whether on the traditional "Song with Tar" or "I Remember," which was originally performed by Egypt's greatest diva, Om Kalthoum .

In the Heart of the Moon is a summit meeting between two world music giants, guitarist Ali Farka Toure and master of the kora-the 21-string gourd harp-toumani Diabate. It is the first newly recorded work from either artist in five years and their first album-length collaboration.

This program features traditional and contemporary African music, including Juju, Highlife, Soukous, Taraab, Marabi, Mbanqanqa, and Bikutusi.

While traveling across Botswana in 1983, ethnomusicologist Elizabeth N. Wood captured music from Tswana-Sotho tribal descendants and Basarwa Bushmen, whose songs cover themes such as war, hunting, farming, school, and religion.

Cesaria Evora did not begin to record in earnest until she was forty-seven, but to hear her sing is to hear the voice of Cape Verde, her people and her history.

The Americans' digital butterfly net caught master musicians such as Rakoto Frah, the John Coltrane of the sodina flute; modern salegy musician Roger Georges and his electric "tikita-tikita" rhythms; Voninavoko's prettily harmonized old-timey string music; virtuosos of the many-stringed valiha ; the amazing D'Gary, whose career has been spent translating the music of Madagascar's various stringed instruments to guitar; and many more.

Like the luscious drink itself, the tunes come in many intensities and flavors, ranging from a light-as-air ditty from Peru, to the more complex vocal stylings of Colombia's Claudia Gomez , to Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca 's earthy Afro-Cuban Congolese rumba.

We didn't restrict ourselves to straight rock songs, and we were completely open to new ideas," says singer/guitarist Shaun Morgan. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces is virtually interchangeable with any previous Seether disc, as well as pretty much anything by the likes of Nickelback, Shinedown, and other "post-grunge" rock bands. Witness the gauche "FMLYHM," which borrows from lyrical ideas that sounded novel when Trent Reznor sang them in "Closer" more than a decade ago but now just sound juvenile and unnecessarily angry.