Erin P. Hernandez 
Mokoomba, a young rising group of Tonga musicians from Zimbabwe
Courtesy of the artist
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Courtesy of the artist
Mokoomba, a young rising group of Tonga musicians from Zimbabwe
Courtesy of the artist
This list is almost entirely African, drawn from my work this year with Afropop around the world. (I resisted the inclusion of jokers like the Sambadunda Quartet Java and Bonnie Raitt Slipstream, tempting as they are.) What strikes me about my favorite African releases this year is that, for the most part, they don’t come from the usual suspects – Youssou N’Dour, Salif Keita, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, etc. . the youthful techno-Afropop strain of acts like The Very Best and Janka Nabay is clearly on the rise. It took me a while to get used to this tech-roots approach, but these two bands produced deliciously musical albums. That said, I’m still kind of an old school dance band, hence my nod to Refugee All Stars and Sierra Leone’s Staff Benda Bilili – two bands that rose to fame through movies documentaries about them. , but have now claimed more enduring fame with great music. Mokoomba, a fiery young band from Zimbabwe, are a discovery, the most promising new act in southern Africa for a while. Again, they break the standard mould, coming from one of Zimbabwe’s smallest and least known ethnic groups, the Tonga.
Debo Band stands out among an ever-improving contingent of US-based African music groups, even though they specialize in a 40-year-old style of Ethiopian music. The global grow mixer continues to create intriguing hybrids. (Hi K’Naan!) But for my money, it’s still hard to top the consistency, idiosyncratic logic, and deep-seated perfection of worn-out local styles, like salegy from Madagascar, or cumbia and champeta Columbia.
