For those of us unfamiliar with the South African genre malombo, the music made by guitarist and singer Sibusile Xaba sounds like a wonderfully chaotic blend of bossa nova, flamenco and prog folk; sung soulfully in Zulu over a tangle of jazzy chords on a nylon-strung guitar. Xaba was mentored by two celebrated South African musicians, Philip Tabane and Madala Kunene, but his music is far more interesting. This album is divided into two halves: An Open Letter to Adoniah is the more obviously “African” project, where Xaba is backed by the hand drums and androgynous-sounding harmonies of Thabang Tabane. The second disc, Unlearning, contains the real sonic surprises. Alongside Ariel Zamonsky’s slithering double bass and Bonolo Nkoane’s atmospheric brushed drums, Xaba invents a kind of weightless, free-floating global jazz that’s pitched somewhere between John Martyn’s Solid Air, Brazilian Tropicalia and the Violent Femmes. An astonishing debut from a unique talent.
