Mariem Hassan – Haiyu
Mariem Hassan, one of the great voices of North Africa, and the finest advocate for the rights of the Saharawi people, died last month in one of the refugee camps in Algeria where she first made her name singing for the Polisario. Despite a decade-long battle with cancer, she kept working, with memorable appearances at Womad festivals around the world, and has left behind a legacy of great songs, such as this desert blues.
Owiny Sigoma Band – Changaa Attack
Owiny Sigoma started when Jesse Hackett and other members of the British electronica band Elmore Judd went to Kenya and met up with Luo musicians. Their third collaboration, recorded in the Luo homeland of western Kenya, is a cheerfully percussive affair that includes this dance song featuring a chorus of fishermen’s children.
Bella Hardy – Oh! My God! I Miss You
Bella Hardy’s last album With the Dawn, released earlier this year, was a bravely personal set of new and often intimate songs backed by her own fiddle work, along with banjo, brass and percussion. Some of the best songs are the slow, sad and atmospheric numbers – such as Oh! My God! I Miss You.
Zani Diabate/Super Djata Band – Noumousso
Bamba Wassoulou Groove are a new band who pay homage to the great Malian guitarist Zani Diabate, who died in 2011. Listening to their album made me dig out Zani’s original recordings. Here’s the exhilarating Noumousso from his 1988 album Zani Diabate and the Super Djata Band. It still sounds thrilling and utterly contemporary.
AR Rahman with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Gurus of Peace
I know that most of his devoted followers who packed the O2 will disagree with me, but I was disappointed by AR Rahman’s live show because he didn’t have quite the personality or stagecraft to do justice to his memorable film compositions in such a massive setting. He does, after all, have a remarkable gift for fusion and melody, as shown by this Indian-Pakistani collaboration featuring the late and brilliant Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Christy Moore and Sinéad O’Connor – Sweet Thames, Flow Softly
This year marks the centenary year of Ewan MacColl’s birth, and the celebrations include an impressive double album, Joy of Living, which will be released in October and features a celebrity cast reviving his songs. He might have been an austere figure who told singers what they could sing, and even how to dress, but he wrote some powerful and often romantic songs. Rufus and Martha Wainwright sing Sweet Thames, Flow Softly on the new album, but here’s an exquisite version by Christy Moore and Sinéad O’Connor.
Feufollet – Tired of Your Tears
One of the best country-pop songs of the summer comes from Feufollet, a band from south-west Louisiana who feature fiddles and accordion and mix Cajun, string band and country balladry in their songs. This is the opening track from their new album Two Universes, performed live in San Francisco.
Doudou N’Diaye Rose – Rose Rhythm
August was a sad month for African music. Reports of Mariem Hassan’s death came soon after news from Senegal that the great percussionist Doudou N’Diaye Rose had died at the age of 85. An exponent of the sabar drum, he created vast percussion orchestras, sometimes with 100 players or more, to perform his powerful and intricate percussion compositions. Here he is playing on the island of Gorée, just off the coast from Dakar.
A Filetta – Sumiglia
A Filetta from Corsica set out to revive the ancient polyphonic songs that are part of the island’s tradition. The six-piece male ensemble create passionate but edgy and sometimes downright spooky harmony singing, and have now moved on from religious songs and folk ballads to write their own compelling material.
BP Fallon – Van and Gloria
How dare anyone revive Gloria after all the classic recordings, by artists from Them to Patti Smith? BP Fallon, once best known as a genial publicist who worked for Led Zeppelin and Ian Dury, manages rather well on his new album Live in Texas. After all, he can explain the early history of British R&B because he was there – and, as he points out, he once lent £10 to a broke Van Morrison …
