Johnny Clegg & Juluka Collection
Artist: Johnny Clegg

How wonderful to finally be able to refer to apartheid, South Africa's former policy of brutally enforced racial exclusion and oppression, in the past tense! However, it is important to never forget how it was back then, and this album provides a virtual time capsule of an audacious period during the long, bitter battle for equality. In the... Read More

Non Stop Non Stop
Artist: Kanda Bongo Man

Early hits by one of the hottest new wave soukous bands, it features lead guitarist Diblo Dibala (see Loketo). ~ J. Poet, All Music Guide Read More

Miss Perfumado
Artist: Césaria Évora

Ravishing is the word that springs to the lips: one of those tiresome British understatements, but it'll have to do. Evora has the most glorious voice, the melodies are heartrendingly Portuguese, the guitar-runs have escaped from a fado recording. The classic piano and string group of Miss Perfumada help explain its near-bestselling status, the... Read More

The Source
Artist: Ali Farka Toure
Community Score: 10.00

African guitarist Ali Farka Toure's previous releases were wonderful mixes of traditional language and rhythms being supported by contemporary concerns, instrumentalists, and producers. His most recent session features his working band backing Toure in a series of impassioned, animated tunes that are done in both his native tongue and English.... Read More

Universal Men
Artist: Juluka

Universal Men, Juluka's 1979 debut album (belatedly released in the U.S. in 1992), was a remarkable document for its time. Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu achieved a canny mixture of Western folk-rock and Zulu chant, creating a pop hybrid like nothing that had been heard before, even if the flute and sax solos of Robbie Jansen, playing against the... Read More

Lam Toro
Artist: Baaba Maal

This is the album that introduced Baaba Maal's singular mix of traditional African rhythms and Western arrangements to the world. His third recording, Lam Toro bounds ahead of his previous two albums (which explored his folk roots), transforming Senegalese music with funky grooves and electrified melodies. ~ Rosalind Cummings-Yeates, All Music... Read More

The Best of Juluka
Artist: Juluka

This is a good summary of Clegg's work with Juluka. ~ Scott Bultman, All Music Guide Read More

Amour Fou
Artist: Kanda Bongo Man

In part because he believes in keeping his groups down to a reasonable sound, Kanda Bongo Man's recordings all have something of the feel of the great pre-soukous period of Zairian music. Fad-hounds will be interested, and many others relieved, to note further evidence that the disco-bomp that has recently shackled Zairian rhythm sections is on... Read More

Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World
Artist: Johnny Clegg & Savuka

When South Africa was still suffering under the apartheid system in the 1980s, Johnny Clegg & Savuka was the last thing apartheid supporters wanted in a pop group. Their lyrics were often vehemently anti-apartheid, and apartheid supporters hated the fact that a half-black, half-white outfit out of South Africa was integrated and proud of it.... Read More

Third World Child
Artist: Johnny Clegg & Savuka

"Asimbonanga (Mandela)" is an anthem already adopted by Joan Baez and others, while the title tune devastatingly discusses what it's like to be asked to "walk in the dreams of the foreigner." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Read More