Inspired by the 1950s finger-picking guitar style of Omutibo, SHINDU SHI focuses on good time music grounded in culture, community and love for Africa and its people.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fela Kuti's classic Open & Close, Knitting Factory Records is pleased to announce the first vinyl pressing since the 1980s. This edition features a return to the original gatefold jacket and will be pressed on red and yellow butterfly effect vinyl. Limited edition of 7000.

Balaphonics is a collective of nine musicians specialized in Afro-fusion. Their name comes from the African percussion instrument, the balafon, also known as “bala” or “balani,” a kind of xylophone that has a very important place in Mandingo music.

This 4th full-length album by the legendary Congolese collective marks a new milestone in their already rich history, as the band have incorporated their own approach to electronic music into their new compositions.

The Beaters – Harari was released in 1975. After changing their name, Harari went into the studio late in 1976 to record their follow-up, Rufaro / Happiness. In 1976 they were voted South Africa’s top instrumental group and were in high demand at concert venues across the country.

With his new album Rhapsodic, Nicolas Repac gives life to the archives of the hunter-gatherer of sounds: Charles Duvelle.

Avant-garde cosmic sounds from Senegal, “Yaral Sa Doom” is a groundbreaking album spanning borders and musical scenes. Inspired from West African tradition, Sufi praise songs, spiritual jazz, and dub rhythms, the effect is a genre defying entry in outernational sound. Hypnotic percussion loops across sweeping pads, call and response chants echoes layer over electronic beats, and children’s voices sing out to recordings of crashing waves.

Band from Cotonou in Benin (ex Dahomey), "T.P." stands for the French "Tout Puissant", which means "All Mighty". Originally founded as Orchestre Poly-Disco in 1968 with original members Melome Clement (founder, vocals), Bentho Gustave (bass), Bernard 'Papillon' Zoundegnon (guitar) and others. Seeking to expand and in search of a soul singer, Bentho and Papillon lured Vincent Ahehehinnou from Daho Jazz, a band with little prospect of major success that often performed in seedy venues.

Legendary activist and Afrobeat originator, Fela Kuti, used his music to lament social injustices and political corruption in his native Nigeria. Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk, hip-hop, rock, and beyond. While this impact can be felt in Nigeria and the entire world, it also greatly affected Fela’s son Femi and his son Made, both of whom carry his legacy as torchbearers for change. On February 5th, Partisan Records will release two albums from Femi and Made, packaged together and appropriately titled ‘Legacy +’.

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley was born on the 11th Street in Sekondi, Ghana 72 years ago. on the cover photo you can see on the right side the house of his birth which was also his parental home.

Hailing from Melbourne, but with a sound stretching from 60s and 70s afrobeat and exotica to Fela Kuti-esque repetition, the proto-garage rhythmic fury of The Monks and the grooves of Os Mutantes, there’s an enticing lost world exoticism to the music of Bananagun.

‘Rejoice’ is a very special collaboration between Tony Allen, the co-founder of Afrobeat, and Hugh Masekela, the master of South African jazz. Having first met in the 70s thanks to their respective close associations with Fela Kuti, the two world-renowned musicians talked for decades about making an afrobeat album together. When, in 2010, their touring schedules coincided in the UK, the moment presented itself and producer Nick Gold took the opportunity to record their encounter. The unfinished sessions, consisting of all original compositions by the pair, lay in archive until after Hugh passed away in 2018.