West African Wonder Women

Two brand new albums for you today. Both are by female artistes from West Africa. And both are splendid.

Regular readers may recall me raving about Nana Benz du Togo's debut album "AGO" and their live show at various points over the last couple of years. I'm pleased to report that their second album "SÉ NAM" (which means ‘understand me' in the Mina language) came out last month.

It is a worthy successor to "AGO". There is a bit more studio production this time round. I'm not sure they needed it but its fairly unobtrusive and doesn't detract from the general joyfulness of their sound, and hopefully the live show will still feature a man whacking big pieces of plastic tubing with a pair of flip-flops.

The second album comes from a fine singer from Burkina Faso who I had never heard of before and about whom I have been able to find out very little. Her name is Awa Guindo and the only information I have comes from her Facebook page, which tells us:

"Awa Guindo is part of the new wave of young Mandingo artists who have been shaking up the West African musical world in recent years. Originally from Banfora, in southwest Burkina Faso, she comes from a long line of griots".

So now you know. Anyway her debut album is called "Tama" and I would recommend giving it a listen. It is not on Bandcamp but you can find it on Spotify, at the tax dodgers' place and on EMusic in the unlikely event you have a subscription. 

"Recycle" - Nana Benz du Togo

"Famaden" - Awa Guindo

I can't find any videos of Nana Benz performing songs from the latest album so here is an old favourite instead. It is followed by what I think is Awa's searing critique of a corrupt sporting organisation.