Africando Ketukuba - CD
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cd cover Africando
Ketukuba (Stern's)
$17.99

Back for more, this all-star lineup offers the 2006 model (as they head into their 15th anniversary as an ensemble), and improves on the formula.

   

Listen:
Bogne Sirala
Malawoo
Coumba Peul

Fourteen years on from the first collaboration between top Senegalese singers and Latin musicians from New York, the latest lineup of this "Afro-Salsa supergroup" proves to be on remarkably fine form. The aim of Africando remains the same - to show how African singers re-interpret Latin styles that have bounced back across the Atlantic - and the variety is impressive. Salsa sung in the west African language of Wolof may dominate the set, but there's also Congolese rumba, with singer Madilu System reworking Mario, a song once made famous by his legendary former boss, the guitarist Franco. Then there's the intriguing Viens Danser Sur Le Son Africando, in which what sounds like some ancient Malian melody is matched against a salsa beat. And there's even a rousing version of the old Fania All Stars favourite Nina Nina, with New York's Joe King standing up well against the west Africans. One of the African dance albums of the year. - Robin Denselow, The Guardian (UK)

Press from the record label:
Africando ahora! Fourteen years after the historic first meeting of some of the best singers in Senegal and many of the best Latin musicians in New York, the Afro-salsa supergroup is back with its seventh album. Remember the thrill you felt when you first heard Africando? Here's that thrill again.

  • The album is a tribute to the late Gnonnas Pedro, Benin's favorite son, who sang with Africando from 1996 until his death in 2004. The title song, Ketukuba was his last recording.
  • Medoune Diallo, who earned his reputation with Orchestre Baobob before casting his lot with the nascent Africando in 1992, sings a duet with his son, Lodia Mansour, a rising star in Senegal today.
  • This album also introduces Africando's worldwide fans to two other young but already seasoned Senegalese singers: Pascal Dieng of Super Cayor and Basse Sarr of Orchestre Afro-Salsa de Dakar.
  • Africando stalwarts Amadou Ballaké (Burkina Faso's pre-eminent singer) and Sékouba Bambino (the baby star of Guinea's Bembeya Jazz National) are in top form.
  • American salsero Joe King gives a rendition of Nina Nina that may well become the definitive version of the Fania All-Stars classic.
  • Congolese star Madilu System Bialu joins Africando for a sparkling Latin-styled version of Mario, the landmark hit he originally recorded with Franco's T.P.O.K. Jazz in 1985. And he sings it even better now!
  • Nelson Hernandez, who has worked with Kékélé as well as with Celia Cruz, Oscar D'Leon and many other Latin stars, wrote arrangements that allow such top-tier musicians as pianist Junito Davila, trumpeter Gazo Jaime and percussionists (and cousins) Roberto and Luis Quintero to shine.
  • As always, producer Ibrahima Sylla brings extraordinary talents together and elicits brilliant performances from them.

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