African pop music was raw and vibrant long before “Afrobeat” and “world music” became carefully tailored marketing categories. Produced to sell to local and expatriate audiences, the recordings collected here from the continent’s “Islamic funk belt” explode in a convergence of age-old polyrhythms with Western instruments and echoes of rock. Whether the musicians listened to James Brown is anyone’s guess. If they never heard the Godfather of Soul, they arrived at a similar destination along different routes. Comments Share your opinion Related Articles

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