Latest releases reviewed

VARIOUS
Gilles Peterson in Africa Ether
****

Gilles Peterson probably already knows what 22nd century funk sounds like. Peterson remains in a class of his own as a DJ and broadcaster because he can see links and make connections which few others realise even exist. His African odyssey is split into two CDs, one concentrating on the originators and creators, the other on the innovators and shape-shifters. Wayward definitions of the funk are what tie Peterson's Soul CD selections together: Fela Kuti's Ye Ye De Smell and Oscar Sulley's mighty Bukom Mashie contain impressive blasts of the high life and more. What happens when modern producers take these Afro roots and mess around with them is the stuff of the Spirit CD, a place where Masters at Work (their gorgeous MAW Expensive), Thievery Corporation and Carl Craig come in, all guns blazing. A compilation as deep and wide as the continent itself. www.ethermusic.net

Jim Carroll

SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR
Voices from Heaven Shanachie
***

Powerhouse spirituals from Ladysmith Black Mambazo and others may have whetted our appetites, but this magnificent collection of gospel songs gathered together by the Soweto Gospel Choir is unmissable. The Choir is an ecumenical 32-voice gathering from a variety of churches and communities in Soweto; instrumentation, where it exists, is largely redundant. Voice and percussion are what soar highest, buoyed by a belly-deep tradition in a cappella singing like nothing we've ever managed to match in these cooler, more rhythmically-challenged climes. From the opening Jikela Emaweni to the spine-tingling harmonies of Malaika with soloist Sarah Mulovhedzi, this is soul music of an altogether different hue to anything that's come out of Motown. Borrowings such as Jerusalem and Amazing Grace are mere cyphers alongside the more full-blooded local songs. www.shanachie.com

Siobhán Long