Zap Mama
Few artists promote world music as joyously or inventively as Zap Mama leader Marie Daulne. The Zairean-born, Belgian-bred vocalist founded the group after reconnecting with her family's African roots in the late '80s and continues to cast her artistic net in ever-widening waters. On this latest album, she emerges from Zap Mama's original incarnation as an all-female, a cappella quintet for what is essentially a solo effort (with instrumental support) filled with lush, category-defying blends of African, European, American and Jamaican motifs. Whether she's singing in French ("Jogging à Tombouctou"), Wolof ("Eie Buma"), or English ("New World"), Daulne celebrates the common threads that connect music from all reaches of the earth. On "Warmth," she sings, "The only possibility I see/ Is to let the music flow through me." That it does—stunningly. (Luaka Bop/Warner Bros.)
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