Afia Mala
Desir

Raï is the music of a youth hungover from Algeria's recent independence. It became a space for a liberated, transgressive dialogue that told the social truths of its time -- an up-front yet poetic voice that covers the taboos and frustrations of daily life, expressing emotion without detour. This voice is heard at weddings, cabarets, in the nightclubs of the Oranese coast, and casually on the street... With the boom of the audio cassette, an avalanche of raï tapes were produced in Oran and diffused all over the world. Both women and men sang and listened to the new sound, as raï is intimately tied to parties, alcohol and the night. With the spontaneous improvisation of its singers as the main part of each song, raï keeps reinventing itself. In this style, Cheb Hasni, along with Cheb Nasro, incarnates a second generation of musicians. With the "love raï", or sentimental raï, Hasni sings about love, passion and its setbacks -- moving away from the bittersweet daily chronicles of the first chebs and chebates. Having recorded nearly 150 cassettes, Cheb Hasni remains one of the most prolific and talented raï singers of his generation. Almost thirty years after his death, this three-volume compilation of rare tracks from his cassette releases on the Oriental Music Production label is a tribute to the lasting legacy of Cheb Hasni -- ya raï! The second volume of three is presented here.CHEB HASNIVol 2Outre National

The Honeyshotz is a band/project put together by Ian Stevens , the bass player from The Getup and The King Rooster as a vehicle to record and perform a collection of songs that were written by himself and also with some of the other musicians involved.The band features Mark Claydon(The Getup / The King Rooster) on drums and percussion and Lee Blackmore (The Getup) on guitar . The man on the keys is Toby kinder from the Gene Drayton Unit and the vocals are taken care of by Sabina Challenger (formerly of The Getup and The Soul Grenades).Mark Norton (The Fantastics/ The Gene Drayton Unit) supplies sax and flute. The songs are very much in the vein of The Brand New Heavies and have that summertime Acid Jazz / Soul Funk Vibe.

Located on Nyali Beach, south of Mombasa city lies Mombasa Reef Hotel. Catering westerners to safaris and snorkelling, and providing local acts of art-acts and music, including the hotel's then house band the Mombasa Vikings. A band name undoubtedly suited for the many Nordic tourist that frequently visited. It's not exactly afro-beat more of a hybrid, heavy percussive with a a tip of chakacha rhythm pattern, a flute solo ooozing with jazz sensibility. (Afro7)

COLORE VIVO is a concept album with an atypical genesis: the idea was born from a sequence of images, as the soundtrack for a movie (never made) on the exploration of the uses and customs of archaic and mysterious populations. The soundscape he paints shows an extraordinary coherence in this. Bjondo is an artisan, as in the tradition of the great masters of the Italian Mondo Films, and it’s precisely to that manual knowledge, to that exploration and to those sounds that the disc is most recalled. The artist's research and his eclecticism translate into the wise use of rudimentary tools (bamboo, pieces of wood, stones, vases, necklaces and even a sort of self-made berimbau) to obtain unique and unclassifiable exotic sounds. His research on the evocative skills of primordial sounds breaks with the COLORE VIVO is a concept album with an atypical genesis: the idea was born from a sequence of images, as the soundtrack for a movie (never made) on the exploration of the uses and customs of archaic and mysterious populations.His research on the evocative skills of primordial sounds breaks with the narrowness of the genre and opens up to total experimentation.Each listening opens the window of imagination on other worlds. A dizzying look at the lost memory that is hidden inside each of us. A continuous (re) discovery! There's strong Gamelan music inspiration. Gamelan music can be describe as the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments used are metallophones played by mallets and a set of hand-played drums called kendhang which register the beat.

Theo Bijlhout is a Surinamese gospel singer from Paramaribo. It is there that he owns his own record shop in the centre of town and there where he recorded his small but well-formed discography in the late 1970s. This is one of the standout tunes from it and was his first-ever release in 1977. A good quality original copy is hard to find and relatively pricey but this reissue helps you out there. 'Get Down Cause Ain't Funky' is the real gem with its afro drumming, smooth grooves and lively vocals next to the big horns. 'It's Gonna Be Different Now' is a slower, more sentimental sound with a tender vocal and deeper sense of remorse.

First Word Records is very pleased to present a brand new full-length album from Sarah Williams White! Emanating from the "hilly fields of Lewisham" in South London, Sarah Williams White is a singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Her sound is a unique blend of psych-soul, folktronica and experimental synth-pop.Sarah released her acclaimed debut album 'Of The New World' on First Word in 2015, which was written, produced and performed by Sarah from her home studio, with the assistance of drummer, engineer & husband, Timmy Rickard. Her projects have seen support from the likes of Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, Nemone & Chris Hawkins (BBC 6 Music), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), FIP Radio, Clash & The Guardian, to name a few, and she's toured the UK with Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip and Golden Rules (Lex). There have been additional collaborations with label-mate Quiet Dawn (on the 2021 compilation / EP 'A Family Affair') and with her brother, Paul White - a revered producer in his own right, with credits including Danny Brown and Sudan Archives.