Tribu

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Editor's info:
The solo debut release from one-time Touré Kunda member and one-time Zap Mama member Sally Nyolo. All 12 songs here are in the Eton language of the Cameroonian jungles, where she was born. The vocals are powerful, even when she's simply reciting the lighter lyrics. Perhaps one of the most noticeable aspects of the vocal work here is the outstanding yodel Nyolo possesses. The songs deal with aspects of village life largely, with the stray love song thrown in at a couple of points. The sound is relatively bare, with only guitars and percussion essentially, as opposed to the keyboard-infused sound so common to African music. Luckily for the listener, Nyolo has bucked the current Cameroonian trend of using drum machines instead of actual drums. She plays some of them herself, for that matter. This isn't at all Zap Mama, however. It's still stunning vocal work, with songs alternating between touching and bouncy. Pick up the album as a generally nice look at Cameroonian vocal music, and moreover as a showpiece of the crossroads between traditional and contemporary music, complete with the yodeling that is so ubiquitous in traditional jungle musics of the area. ~ Adam Greenberg