The Rough Guide to Acoustic Africa

The Rough Guide To Acoustic Africa
Compilation album by Various artists
Released 25 March 2013
Genre World, Acoustic, African
Length 127:08
Label World Music Network
Full series chronology

  • The Rough Guide to Acoustic Africa
  • (2013)
  • The Rough Guide to Flamenco
  • (2013)
Complete list

The Rough Guide To Acoustic Africa is a world music compilation album originally released in 2013 featuring acoustic music spanning Sub-Saharan Africa. Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the album contains two discs: an overview of the genre on Disc One, and a "bonus" Disc Two highlighting griot Noumoucounda Cissoko. Disc One features artists hailing from Niger, Madagascar, the DRC, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, South Sudan, Sudan, Senegal, and Guinea. All but three tracks are guitar-based.[1] The extensive liner notes were written by Daniel Rosenberg, and Phil Stanton, co-founder of the World Music Network, produced the album.[2][3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Robert Christgau[4] A-
PopMatters[5]

The recording received positive reviews. After admitting that compilations spanning many countries typically annoy him, Robert Christgau recounted this one as "soft-spoken" and "pretty" enough to award it an "A-".[4] David Maine of PopMatters wrote that this release was consistent with Rough Guides' "knack for culling good tunes from a far-flung range of material". Maine was particularly impressed by Disc Two, comparing Cissoko with Salif Keita.[5]


Track listing

Disc One

No. TitleArtist (Country) Length
1. "Saghmar N Nanna"  Etran Finatawa Niger 4:54
2. "Sweet Lullaby"  Lala Njava Madagascar 4:03
3. "Mbanda Nasali Nini? (Madeleine)"  Ensemble Rumba Kongo & Syran Mbenza Democratic Republic of the Congo 5:09
4. "Yekanini"  Shiyani Ngcobo South Africa 4:31
5. "Ha Kele Monateng"  Sotho Sounds Lesotho 3:28
6. "Ndinewe"  Monoswezi MozambiqueNorwaySwedenZimbabwe 4:50
7. "Masikini"  Eyuphuro Mozambique 5:09
8. "See Wo Nom Me (Tsetse Fly You Suck My Blood)"  Koo Nimo Ghana 4:22
9. "Obili Éba"  Mr. Eddy & Sally Nyolo Cameroon 5:22
10. "White Crocodile Blues (A Song for M) [Instrumental]"  Samba Touré Mali 3:44
11. "Lemon Bara"  Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim South SudanSudan 5:03
12. "Diamano"  Amadou Diagne Senegal 3:41
13. "Djou"  Mory Kanté Guinea 5:34
14. "Aomby Mazava Loha"  Vakoka Madagascar 4:21
15. "Afrika"  Nuru Kane Senegal 3:35
16. "AIDS"  Mabulu Mozambique 4:28

Disc Two

All tracks on Disc Two are by Noumoucounda Cissoko, a Senegalese kora-playing griot.[6]

No. Title Length
1. "Interlude, Pt. 1 (Intro)"   0:28
2. "Noumou Koradioulou"   4:10
3. "Nagnou Talal Loxxo Afrique"   6:45
4. "Sining"   7:22
5. "Interlude, Pt. 2"   0:39
6. "Dindingo a Bamah"   4:47
7. "Bannaya Foly"   6:25
8. "Begg Ci Yow"   5:06
9. "Yekhi Medina"   4:22
10. "Interlude, Pt. 3"   1:26
11. "Gorgni"   6:08
12. "Bannadenoufele"   5:58
13. "Interlude, Pt. 4 (Outro)"   1:18

References

  1. ↑ Phillips, Glyn (3 August 2013). "ROUGH GUIDE TO ACOUSTIC AFRICA - CD REVIEW". Worldmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  2. ↑ World Music Network. "About Us - The WMN Story". Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  3. ↑ "The Rough Guide to Acoustic Africa". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 Dec 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Christgau, Robert. "Consumer Guide". MSN Music. Retrieved 21 Dec 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Maine, David. "Various Artists: The Rough Guide to Acoustic Africa". PopMatters. Retrieved 21 Dec 2013.
  6. ↑ World Music Network. "Noumoucounda Cissoko: Noumoukoradioulou". Retrieved 2014-01-11.

External links