1 - Olivia Ruiz - J'traine des pieds - La Femme Chocolat - France - Universal
2 - Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis - Trans Europe Van - Taxidoscopio - Greece - Heaven & Earth
3 - Orchestre de Dabola - Semba - Authenticité - Guinea Conakry - Sterns Africa
4 - Afrikali - Shikulose - Music Crossroads Winners 2005 - Tanzania - Music Crossroads
5 - Othman - Kayen Rebbi - Maghreb Soul: Rai Story 1986-1990 - Algeria - Because
6 - Wareika Hill Sounds - Queen of Sheba - Wareika Hill Sounds - Jamaica - Honest Jons
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Olivia Ruiz
Last week, I played a track featuring the Canadian singer Lhasa as a guest on the new album by French Gypsy group Bratsch. Another track featured Olivia Ruiz, a new name to me who didn’t impress. But now her own album has arrived, La Femme Chocolate, with several much better songs including ‘J'traine des pieds’. Which means what?
Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis
The last time I saw Greek duo Kristi Stassinopoulou & Stathis Kalyviotis, they were doing a sort of retro-psychedelic show at the Union Chapel in Islington, North London, and I thought they’d lost the plot completely. But they’ve come back to reality on their new album, Taxidoscopio, and the self explanatory ‘Trans Europe Van’ is track one in a suite of songs written on the road during their last tour.
Orchestre de Dabola is another group from Guinea Conakry from the 1970s, unknown to me before surfacing on the highly recommended double CD, Authenticité.
Afikali
Afrikali were winners of a talent competition staged in East Africa in 2005 by Music Crossroads. On their 5-track EP, a couple of songs have unconvincing lead vocals by the female singers, but ‘Shikulose’ sounds fine.
Because Records of Paris has issued a series of albums by Algerian singers under the generic title Maghreb Soul, 1986-1990. In addition to the artist albums by Cheb Khaled, Cheb Mami and Cheika Remitti is a various artist collection with tracks by all of them but also including the less well known Othman with ‘Kayen Rebbi’.
Nobody plays the trombone like a Jamaican. Not sure what they do differently, but Don Drummond, Rico and Calvin Cameron all make it sound more emotional than players from other countries manages to do. Of the three, Calvin’s is the name you might not know before, but he’s been the main man in Kingston for many years, and after playing behind Freddie McGregor and producing the UK top 20 hit ‘Real Fashion Reggae Style’ by Carey Johnson, has finally made his own debut album Wareika Hill Sounds.