Ostinato US Vinilo y CD

Review: Before a hard line religious government seized control of Sudan via a 1989 coup, the country had one of the richest musical scenes in the world. This fine two-disc compilation from Ostinato brilliantly chronicles the various strands of this scene, focusing especially on music made in the capitol city, Khartoum. Fired by tum tum and Nubian rhythms, the set shuffles through the Arabian-inspired violin and accordion-heavy orchestral music of the 1970s, synthesizer and drum machine-driven cuts of the 1980s, and more polished later recordings produced by local artists who had fled persecution in the 1990s. There's naturally much to enjoy throughout, including a clutch of rare live recordings and some of the most beguilding, heart-felt songs ever to come out of East Africa.