11.03.2009

RIYL: equatorial dance parties, paradigm shifts, and afro-pop positivity

The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa

overcrowding dance floors everywhere on Green Owl records (2009)

The Very Best are a transcontinetal collaboration of Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and the English production duo known as Radioclit. The euphoric jams they make together are a celebratory and hybrid mix of African harmonies and dance-ready electro beats that explode conventional 'world music' cliches with their appeal to that something which precedes any exclusion by way of race, language, cultural membership, or niche understanding: the human impulse for gettin' down.

I had a chance to catch their live show last night at the DC 9, and it blew minds. As always, the music is its own best spokesman, so check out the record and see what I'm getting at. If Warm Heart of Africa leaves you wanting more, your next move should be to download the free mixtape The Very Best released as a promo record sometime last year.

Buy it at Insound!

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