#musow danse

[sinceileftyoublog]

Les Amazones d’Afrique Album Review: Musow Danse

(Real World)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On their 3rd album Musow Danse, supergroup Les Amazones d'Afrique hook up with legendary producer Jacknife Lee and delve into wider swaths of music of the African diaspora. What started as the collective (of shifting membership) playing the kora as a message of metaphorical defiance against traditional West African music-based gender roles, is now something that finds its power in more contemporary styles. Their voices and statements of solidarity blend swimmingly with rubbery synths, syncopated handclaps, skittering arpeggios, and hip hop drums.

Yes, Musow Danse features everything you loved in the first place about Les Amazones d'Afrique, from pure funk to their mind-boggling ability to bounce between multiple languages on one song. But this time around, each song feels like its own composition that can stand alone just as well as it ties in with the other songs on the record. The two that feature the majority of the group are immediate standouts. The opening title track presents the vocals of Fafa Ruffino, Mamani Keïta, Kandy Guira, and Dobet Gnahoré, chanting in unison, "Rise up, African woman" and expelling vocal trills, against a driving beat and panning distortion. "Kuma Fo (What They Say)", meanwhile, sports a similar mix between the tactile and the atmospheric, hand percussion rolling alongside meaty hip hop beats and screeching synthesizers. "Flaws" is already one of the best pure pop songs of 2024, Keïta and Ruffino paying tribute to the imperfections that make us ourselves, alongside some club-ready 808s. And new member Alvie Bitemo shows off her vocal range on "Mother Murakoze" and "Amahoro (Don't Get Angry"), intense and throaty in comparison to the abstract, glassy synthesizers and upbeat drumline snares.

In speaking about Musow Danse, Ruffino mentioned that Lee, despite not knowing the various languages sung on the album, was able to feel the spirit of the words. Though it's likely impossible for the average listener to hold a similarly intimate connection, experiencing the record is still an exercise in deep listening, an appreciation of contrast not just as a sonic tool but as an emphasis on the innate worth of each individual voice. On album closer "Bobo Me", Nneka's atmospheric falsetto nestles between the depth of Keïta's stop-starts. Gnahoré's upfront vocal subsumes the circular rhythms of "Kiss Me" and the deliberate, yet shifting tempo of "My Place". With Les Amazones d'Afrique, there's room for it all, the bigger the tent, the more powerful the music.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Video: Les Amazones d'Afrique Share Bold and Swaggering "Flaws"

New Video: Les Amazones d'Afrique Share Bold and Swaggering "Flaws @amazonesafrique @sirenscallpr @RealWorldRec @kennedymuntanga @acedancemusic

Founded in Bamako back in 2014 by three renowned and acclaimed Malian artists and social change activists Mamani Keïta, Oumou Sangaré and Amadou & Mariam‘s Mariam Doumbia, Les Amazones d’Afrique is a All-Star collective of female, West African artists that embraces international voices through a meshing of heritage and new generation talent while advocating for the rights of women and girls…

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Listen/purchase: Musow Danse (Women's Dance) by Les Amazones d'Afrique

[andremonde]

Danse des Femmes Amazones

Mon choix VideoPick:  Tenez-vous bien puisque Les Amazones d’Afrique ont publié un nouvel album “Musow Danse” et c’est brûlant. Ce collectif de divas d’Afrique de l’Ouest ne cesse d’impressionner avec une ambiance de fête et des chansons qui posent de sérieuses questions!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHeC03169e4%5B/embedyt%5D My VideoPick:  Les Amazones d’Afrique are back campaigning for…