Putumayo Presents – African Party

Putumayo Presents – African Party / 2008 Putumayo / 10 Tracks / http://www.putumayo.com /

First, I still love the fact that Putumayo comes out with these compilations, covering a number of different genres and geographies with each subsequent releases. However, I have a little bit of a problem when it comes to the name “African Party” for this album.  Africa is a huge and diverse continent, and a number of discs could be released, whether one wants to just break Africa into regions (North, East, Central, West, and South) or into various languages (Francophone, Anglophone) or even into different ethnicities (Wolof, Hutu, etc). To have the title of the disc be “African Party” and only have 10 tracks on the disc makes it seem as if Africa can be reduced to one general element, instead of a number of different lands. Still, the music that is contained on “African Party” is catchy in its own right, and the acts present should not be punished for Putumayo’s decision here. The disc starts off with Sekouba Bambino’s “Famou”, from Guinea. The track has a very vibrant set of vocals and horns, which create a traditional approach to dance that will get individuals up and on the floor.

The chill sound of “Kuunze Kwadoka”, from Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukdudzi, provides yet another strong track on “African Party”. The interesting thing about a number of the tracks on this compilation is that they almost have a Caribbean type of approach to them. This may be because a number of individuals that are in the Caribbean now have African descent, and the musical styles that each group played were significantly similar to each other. While there has been a few hundred years for these styles to break art, there are still a number of things that are common in both styles.

Putumayo does some great good with this disc, ion a number of ways. First off, there are ten different artists that would likely never gain any major following in the United States if this disc hadn’t come out. Secondly, 1% of the proceeds that come from the disc will go to HOPEHIV in the hope that African children with HIV/AIDS will be assisted. I would like to see a more specific approach to subsequent discs put forth by Putumayo that focus on the African continent. I believe that the market is sufficiently large and will support further releases in this vein.

Top Tracks: Chiwoniso – Nguva Yekufara / BoPol Mansiamina – Samba Samba

Rating: 7.9/10