Back in stock: Funk

Review: Habibi Funk co-founder Jannis Stuertz first came across "the Holy Grail of Sudanese funk", Saif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions "Jazz, Jazz, Jazz", while browsing eBay listings a few years back. His interest piqued, he took a trip to Sudan to track down the musicians who had made a ridiculously rare LP that was changing hands for thousands of pounds online. Some four years later, his wish to reissue the set has finally come through. It was originally recorded in Kuwait in 1980 and brilliantly joins the dots between American funk, soul and rhythm and blues, traditional Sudanese vocals and rhythmic arrangements, and even a dash of Congolese soukkous. It's the first full album Habibi Funk has reissued, and with good reason: it's near perfect from start to finish.

Review: Since launching in 2016, Mr Bongo's Record Club compilation series has provided three essential volumes of personal favourites - many obscure and hard-to-find - selected by the label's in-house team of crate-digging DJs. Volume four is naturally every bit as essential as its' predecessors, offering an enticing mixture of Brazilian, African, soul, funk and disco with not a suspect selection in sight. This time round, they've chosen to include contemporary music as well as dusty old gems, with highlights including Kenny Dope's delicious rework of the soul-jazz positivity of 'Throwing Stones' by James Reese and the Progressions, the fast version of Ze Roberto's 1973 MPB classic 'Lotus 72D' and the samba-folk wonder that is Matthew Tavares' 2019 gem 'Self Portrait'.

Review: In 1977, Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali's Kayes region, settled in France to found his own empire modelled psychically after the great Soninko empire. Initially selling wax, kola nuts and other goods in his Parisian outlets, he rapidly started distributing cassette tapes and eventually producing a multitude of recordings for his own label, Camara Production. Crossing paths and collaborating over the next four decades with legendary artists, griots and industry moguls like Boncana Maiga and Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Camara became one of the great independent music producers of his generation, and a pillar of the Parisian Soninke diaspora. Released in close collaboration with Camara and with the assistance of Daouda N'diaye, one of A.P.S' (Association pour la Promotion de la langue et de la culture Soninke) historical members, this selection of songs and accompanying notes aim to shed a light on an intricate culture and its modern music, unjustifiably unknown outside of West Africa and the various diasporas around the world.