Word: africanized
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Founded in 1999 with Malawaian vocalist Esau Mwamwaya fronting the daring production of London-based DJ duo Radioclit, The Very Best released the critically acclaimed mixtape “Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best” in 2008. The mixtape was equally indebted to traditional African musical traditions and their corresponding Western interpretations. The most bizarre example of this, perhaps, was seeing Mwamwaya sing in Chichewa over Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” in a bold, globally-minded move to transcend the African sound and enter the arena...
...Warm Heart of Africa” continues in a similar vein, but where the mixtape was paying respects to its African influences, “Warm Heart of Africa” re-Westernizes those influences into something entirely independent, eschewing critical pandering for transcendence...
...serves as the album’s thesis: the music is not about the past, its influences, or what critics will think; it’s simply about sound and enjoyment. It has no place—though sung in Chichewa and inspired in part by a variety of African sounds, it’s a product of the world...
...similarly upbeat title-track, “Warm Heart of Africa,” is led by Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend’s “African music”-mimicking lead singer, to surprisingly enjoyable effect. His verse feels forced, as does his delivery, but the melody is like a warm beam of sunshine, elucidating Radioclit’s sparkling guitar jabs and open-air percussion, especially evident in their extensive use of cowbell...
Most who try to create an album like this fail for one simple reason: “African music” as we think of it is not necessarily the music of Africa, despite its superficially African qualities. This is joyful music of the world, well-removed from any and all critical and commercial qualms. This is the very best kind of music—music that wants nothing more than to be made and loved...