Wakafrika

EDITORIAL REVIEWS Groundbreaking album that mixed electric UK sounds w/African rhythms. PETER GABRIEL, SINEAD O'CONNOR, SALIF KEITA, ... .COM Cameroon expatriate Manu Dibango's Wakafrika is arguably the most catholic African album ever recorded. Where else could you hear a Nigerian juju guitarist (King Sunny Ade) team up with a jazzy Cameroon saxophonist (Dibango) to perform a tune by a Benin composer (Wally Badarou)? The guest list goes on. And on. Peter Gabriel (remaking "Biko"), Youssou N'dour, Salif Keita, Sinead O'Connor, Angelique Kidjo, Ladysmith Black Mambazo (doing--what else?--"Wimboweh"), Ray Lema, Toure Kunda, Papa Wemba, and Geoffrey Oryema all pop up at various times. A buttery French production, Wakafrika isn't a bad album, necessarily Dibango is a smooth, popular homogenizer of afrobeats galore. But it's so predictably diverse as to lack any identity other than its own heavily produced veneer. --Richard Gehr

Wakafrika