Various Artists - Putumayo Presents Africa (1999)

I've long had a soft spot for African Music, while realising that the continent is huge, and the term covers such a broad swathe of cultures as to be meaningless.

This one, from a charity shop, is a classic, "it's a quid and it has a nice cover, it might be OK" to go alongside a number of such compilations I possess.

Like so many of the others, it's a pleasant enough listen without too much that makes me sit up and take notice. By 1999 African pop music had far more exposure to / from Europe and USA, and I think this shows with a lot of the sounds here. I'm sure I have a similar compilation from a decade earlier, and I suspect it sounds very different.

Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe, opens with a jit sound, not a million mioles away from the Bhundu Boys, followed by South Africa's Soul Brothers, with a song replete with Hammond Organ and guitar runs which will be familiar to anyone who knows Paul Simon's Graceland. album.

Within this there's a four songs from DR Congo artists, all sounding as Western as they do African, but to me the two stand outs are Gaeale from Guinean (according to the notes - everywhere else says she's Malian) chanteuse Diaou Kouyate, and the jazz influenced Francoise by Cameroon's Henri Dikongue.

There's nothing to dislike on this album, and plenty to enjoy, but only a couple that really stand out. But in the current heat wave, it sounds good!

Link to album tracks, and a few more

3* - a solid enough compilation, which will please those with an interest in African pop, but won't generate any converts