Search - Eyuphuro :: Yellela

After a 10-year interruption, Eyuphuro's sparkling comeback album is a kind of Rosetta Stone of classic African pop. "Othiawene" sails in on the classic rumba beat that dominated the continent for decades. Three guitars parry and swirl, a tenor sax pipes out a call, and the "golden voice of Mozambique," Zena Bacar, flaunts a lovely innocence not too far removed from the pre-benga vocal sound of Kenya. Singer-songwriter Issufo Manuel sets a lyric about a husband's search for his wife against a rhythm reminiscent of Zimbabwean pop. In one ear, flinty fingerpicking recalls Thomas Mapfumo's chimurenga style derived from mbira thumb-piano spirit songs. In the other ear, smooth, languid guitar lines suggest the radio-friendly jit of the Bhundu Boys. In the center, a third guitar tosses off chunky jazz phrases. Most songs work in marrabenta percussion unique to Mozambique. "Ethuila Exeni" percolates with a spare but complex local backbeat that adds tension to a melancholy piece about misunderstandings between elders and youth. Midsong, the tempo shifts. The percussionists speed up and close in on Manuel, who opens up his heartfelt vocal even wider. It's an extraordinary album, all the more so because Bacar and her group recorded it under difficult conditions in a studio in Maputo rather than simply making the disc in Europe. That gesture of hope and resurrection pulses through every song. --Bob Tarte