Africa Express presents EGOLI review – a collaboration to stir the senses

(Africa Categorical)
Damon Albarn’s collective decamp to Johannesburg for a wealthy and rewarding reminder of the eclecticism of non-western pop

Now 13 years in the tooth, Damon Albarn’s Africa Express is a pleasant concept, an try and create a degree collaborative enjoying subject between western and African artists, devoid of the patronisation and cultural appropriation that has plagued their relationship prior to now. It has had some notable successes, notably stay. Their marathon gigs, featuring everybody from Paul McCartney to Rizzle Kicks, have been extensively acclaimed. And there was clear, lasting profit to a minimum of a number of the African artists involved: Malian desert blues quartet Songhoy Blues clearly owe their success to their expertise quite than anyone’s patronage, however they first got here to notice outdoors of the Bamako club circuit after working with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner beneath the Africa Categorical banner.