CD reviews

King Sunny Adé

Baba Mo Tunde (IndigeDisc)

::afropop

The juju music of King Sunny Adé is one of the more mysteriously beautiful essentials in Afropop. The sound -- Adé's reedy soul-munchkin voice in hypnotic dialogue with a gospel chorus, guitars from the moon over Hawaii, and drums that don't just talk but carry on long, philosophical conversations -- suggests that revelation (or the meaning of a Nigerian proverb, or whatever Adé is singing about in Yoruba) arrives slowly and with dancing. It's something best experienced live during one of Adé's six-hour sets, or on the essential 2003 collection The Best of the Classic Years, where the '70s analog recordings give his sinewy grooves space to breathe.

Modernization means compression on this first studio album in 10 years (and first with original material recorded in a U.S. studio), so the percussion is up front and pecking rather than insinuating. Yet, the songs are too good to miss -- and songs they are, no matter that the title track extends to a half-hour, attempting for the first time to bring his concert pace to the American listening market. Even better, Philly house DJ King Britt remixes that track into Adé's most futuristic beat chamber since 1981's Juju Music, though the folk-ish pop of "Emi Won Ni Leyi O" is as soulful and expansive. The latter also starts and ends with the ambient clamor Adé is all about: the sound of enjoyment in no hurry to go anywhere. PETER SCHOLTES

Last updated on Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 12:12 am