A really seminal album from Fela Kuti – searing live set that's presented with drummer Ginger Baker – formerly of Cream, and a huge supporter of Fela's music on the UK scene! Baker had already picked up a lot of Fela's influence in his music – and his presence here made for a key moment of global exposure for the new Afro Funk sound that Fela was creating with his Africa 70 group – playing here as part of the ensemble, which oddly doesn't seem to include Baker at all. That hardly matters, though, as the young Tony Allen is on drums, and the set features great trumpet from Tunde Williams and tenor from Igo Chiko – really wailing alongside Fela on the long tracks "Egbe Me O", "Ye Ye De Smell", "Black Man's Cry", and "Let's Start". LP, Vinyl record album

An album-length monster from Fela Kuti – and a cut that has him still burning strong in the final years of his too-short life! The cut "Overtake Don Overtake Overtake" is a funky monster – spanning both sides of the record with a choppy drawn-out groove that features a cool spacey electric piano solo, sad wailing sax, and some catchy vocals on the hook – all with a core acoustic vibe that shows no traces of Fela and the group leaning into 80s technology, as so many of their contemporaries were doing. The track's right up there with Fela's best work ever – and the later, more obscure origin of the album makes it tougher to find than some of the earlier records too! LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing sounds from Cambodia – gong-based ensembles recorded live at different funeral ceremonies over the course of a few short years – all with a musical approach that's really stunning! In some ways, these groups share qualities with Indonesian gamelan ensembles – as their instruments work in ways that are rhythmic and melodic at once – but there's also a looser, almost more improvisational approach going on here – maybe in part because of the emotionally-charged settings in which they perform. The field recordings capture the instruments in a really great way – and often have snippets of other live sounds too – voices and location elements that never dominate, but only seem to enhance the music! LP, Vinyl record album

A really great collection of work from the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kalsoum – a package that includes most of her early recordings from the late 20s and early 30s – very early in the history of her career, but still already handled with a sound that's completely sublime! Even on these shorter tracks, Oum has a way of packing in the emotion and otherworldly qualities that she would later bring to album-length performances – and at some level, given the rawer production of these tracks, her presence on the records is maybe even more powerful! Instrumentation is usually relatively spare – percussion, some unusual string instruments, all recorded with a moody, echoey vibe – and although the work is from the 78rpm era, most tracks are much longer than 5 minutes, which is quite a surprise too. 3CD set features full notes in English and French, and features 35 titles that include "Ya Assia El Hay", "Tebe Ini Lehe", "Akoun Saeed", "Min Elli A'Al", "Charraf Habibal Alb", "Yailey Wedady Safalk", "El Boode Tale", "Ifrah Ya Qalbi", and "El Chakke Yehi El Gharam". CD