Top 10: World Albums

Here, our resident Central African Republic and St Lucia correspondent Craig Stephen looks at some of the best ever ‘world music’ albums. We don’t know exactly what constitutes a world music album so there may be one or two inclusions that some may regard as too western, but the entries were not made by pasty-faced students with guitars. 

And why choose 10 when you can include 11 ...

Mano Negra: Casa Babylon (1994)

“Football, football, football/Football, football, football/Football, football, football/Larchuma Football Club”

This infectious refrain is from ‘Santa Maradona’, a dedication to Argentinean superstar Diego Maradona on track 5 of this magnificent fusion LP. Mano Negra delve into the psyche of the striker, depicting his rise to fame, his struggles with drug addiction, and his role as a symbol of hope for the working class.

This would prove to be the fourth and final studio album by the French group and it cemented the mark they had made on Ibero-American countries and beyond. The group was founded in Paris by Manu Chao, his brother Antoine and their cousin Santiago, who were all born of Galician and Basque parents. Singing in Spanish, French and occasionally English and Arabic, they were the ultimate world fusion band.

Fela Kuti: Gentleman (1973)

With the main track clocking in at 14 minutes and the other two at over eight minutes, there’s no disputing that buyers were getting value for their money.

‘Gentleman’ is a politically scathing song in which Kuti opposes the westernisation of Africa and those who imitate western ways.

“I no be gentleman at all,” sings Fela, who details the ways in which African men cow to their supposed Western masters particularly through their attire to show their allegiance to colonialism. "I know what to wear but my friend don't know /I am not a gentleman like that /I be Africa man original." To emphasise the message, the cover depicts a monkey's head superimposed on to a suit.

Trans-global Underground: Dream of 100 Nations (1993)

 A British band which fused Indian classical, reggae, bhangra, hip-hop, and Middle Eastern influences.

Their debut recording, ‘Temple Head’, was Single of The Week in Melody Maker, one of three broadsheet-size music weeklies at the time which could make or break bands. Due to record label issues, it took a good couple of years before the issue of Dream of 100 Nations, one of the finest albums of the decade.

This featured Egyptian-Belgian songstress Natacha Atlas, included a sample from a Laurel & Hardy comedy, and dialogue from the cult sci-fi film Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Bab L’Bluz - Nayda! (2020)

This is an act with Morocco at its core and who mine the sounds of the Maghreb. Bab L’Bluz translates as "gateway to the blues”, but the reference is to African blues rather than its more modern American version.

To the untrained ear Nayda! is a beguiling listen: Yousra Mansour’s vocal range and the unusual instruments - such as the guembri and the awisha - combine to riveting yet confusing effect.

There’s a solid ground of influences on here, and no more so than on songs such as the anti-corruption anthem ‘Gwana Beat’ (“Who tells the story of the citizens’ pain/ And the story of the crooks who destroyed this country?”).

Les Negresses Vertes: Mlah (1989)

A group born in Paris, France of Algerian and Spanish roots with a touch of circus theatricality with four of the original members having performed with circus acts. All clown jokes end here as Les Negresses Vertes were a seriously infectious world fusion/rock outfit.

Their debut album, Mlah, was well received throughout Europe, including Britain which isn’t always open to European tendencies, but also in the United States where several tracks achieved radio airplay. It includes the excellent gypsy-tinged rocker ‘Zobi le Mouche’ which was a particular favourite of the radio pickers. 

Tito Puente: Dance Mania (1958)

While the New Yorker of Puerto Rican parents released more than 100 albums in a half century career, Dance Mania is often regarded as his finest. In 2000, the New York Times selected it as one of the 25 most significant albums of the 20th century.

Dance Mania’s birth in 1958 came during an innovative time when the predominant sounds of jazz and big bands were beginning to be infused with Afro-Cuban rhythms such as mambo, bolero and cha cha. These shaped Dance Mania which is a vivid experience of life in New York City during the late 1950s.

Significantly, unlike most Latin albums up to then, which were almost exclusively instrumental, Puente included the Spanish-language vocals of Santos Colon. English speakers appreciated its authenticity.

Susheela Raman: Salt Rain (2001)

Raman has a colourful background having been born in London to South Indian parents, raised in Australia, and has performed with Hindustani singers and Asian Underground techno-raga bands like Joi.

Salt Rain, her first solo work, was the first ‘world music’ album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize. Most of the songs on the album are ancient Indian devotional songs in Sanskrit, Hindi or Tamil set around modern chord structures. While ‘Ganapti’, the opening track, is based around a traditional South Asian hymn written two centuries ago, there is a version of Tim Buckley’s ‘Song to the Siren’ to close it.

Ray Barretto: Acid (1968)

Barretto was a celebrated studio session player whose hard-driving conga rhythms could be heard on records by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Cannonball Adderley. He had released a few boogaloo solo albums but it was Acid, his first recording for the new Fania latino label, that would establish him as an innovator in his own right.

Acid is a lot less psychedelic than its title and cover might suggest, and is pivotal in the way it mixes Latin and soul music with songs such as ‘A Deeper Shade of Soul’.

Rachid Taha: Tékitoi (2004)

Tékitoi, showcases Taha’s tastes for Algerian raï, chaabi (old-style Algerian and Moroccan pop), punk, rock and techno-pop.

It was produced, co-written and co-performed by the veteran prog/avant-rock guitarist Steve Hillage while Brian Eno adds his composer and artist touches.

The centrepiece is a version of The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’, which was rewritten entirely in Arabic and renamed slightly to ‘Rock El Casbah’ and given the Egyptian strings treatment. There’s been suggestions that a Taha song was the inspiration for the Clash original, and if that is the case then it is only right that Taha ‘reclaim’ it and record and sing the track in the way he would want it.

Joe Strummer died before he had the chance to hear ‘Rock El Casbah’ but given his worldly view, he would surely have approved.

Gaye Su Akyol: Hologram Ĭmparatorluğu (2016)

The Turkish singer Gaye is part of her country’s revitalised music scene and Hologram Ĭmparatorluğu mixes Turkish styles with grunge, surf rock and psychedelia.

Indeed, the Turkish psychedelia scene of the 1970s is forefront in Akyol’s music. The psychedelia of Turkiye is unique, so it couldn’t translate to western cultures. That is why this and Akyol’s subsequent albums sound so refreshing.

In addition, her lyrics can be read as poetic comments on the dictatorship in Ankara. The police asked Akyol for a “please explain” for the album track ‘Nargile’ after receiving a complaint about the line: “You sold us out well. You have a palace but it’s just empty four walls.” She denied it was about President Erdogan and instead was about the power that destroys people everywhere. As she is not in jail, we can assume that the cops accepted her explanation.

Femi Kuti: No Place For My Dream (2013)

No Place For My Dream was Femi Kuti’s 10th studio album, and is generally considered his best.  

Recorded in Paris, it’s an upfront Afro-beat album, but Kuti also introduces the listener to Latin and Caribbean textures. There are strong political messages across the 11 tracks such as ‘No Work No Job No Money’ and ‘Politics Na Big Business’ which are robust attacks on the class divide throughout the world.

And so it weighs heavily with straightforward political messages, for example: “When you see what is going on in the world today/You will agree that poverty is winning the game/More people are suffering/More people are very poor/The suffering people can’t take anymore.”