Rokia Traoré - Beautiful Africa (2013)

Beautiful Africa

This is the most commercial, rock-influenced album to date by Africa's most inventive singer-songwriter, and it's dominated by sturdy riffs and bass lines. Rokia Traoré has always set out to surprise, and by choosing to work with John Parish, the producer and guitarist best known for his work with PJ Harvey, she has moved away from the acoustic or blues influences of her other recent projects. But this is still a distinctively African album, partly sung in Bambara, and with the n'goni as dominant as the guitars. And it succeeds because of the sheer quality of her singing and the thoughtful, varied songs from the light and then furious Kouma to Mélancholie, a highly personal reflection on sadness and solitude. The most powerful riff is reserved for the title track, a pounding, angry attack on the chaos in Mali and elsewhere in Africa, mixed with a love song to the continent. Memorable.