Everyone who’s been traveling around world, either as a digital nomad or just during vacation period, knows how inspiring is to hear different types of music in a foreign country. Personally, I have never been to Africa, but I am pretty sure I would be inspired with almost every melody I would hear there. It is in our blood. We are all Africa and we all dance to the beat of African drums.
Rich African world music scene got a female supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique comprised of Angelique Kidjo, Rokie Kone, Mariam Doumbia, Nneke and some other music stars from the black continent. Gathered to strive for raising awareness about violence against women, talented musicians from Western Africa have come up with interesting, dynamic and wide album. On the other hand, it seems like the essence was lost in the amount of ideas and styles. Piled up multitude resulted in lack of substantial and clear direction.
At the very beginning, we have a strong and rhythmically innovative track Dombolo in which powerful electro bass sound is produced by Irish electronic magician Liam Farrell. If album continued in a similar manner, it would be an interested studio release of standard tunes from African world music scene. Instead, throughout the record, we hear an inability to overcome the struggle between Farrell’s production and traditional expressions such as desert blues and tribe chanting (Mansa Soyari is a perfect example for this).
The only constant is electro base of the whole story. The lyrics of different songs have nothing to do with one another. First two songs are followed by lounge-like Doona, then generic funk La Dame et Ses Valises, so that the middle of the album would be graced with messy and too-synthetic I Play The Kora. Sonic redemption comes with epic ending track Desert Storm thanks to the glorious performances by Kandie Kouyate and Rokie Kone.
Overall, the African supergroup offered few intriguing moments by tying to step out of the comfort zone of world music. Still, we are left with the impression that If the sound was polished at least a little bit more, it would give the whole release a more lucid concept.
