Search - Jimmy Cliff :: Shout for Freedom

Over the decades, reggae's heroes have sung countless yearning hymns to the Motherland, yet few Jamaicans have actually explored the connection between the sounds of modern Africa and Jamaica in their music. Jimmy Cliff set off the international reggae craze with his poor-man's anthem, "The Harder They Come," in the early '70s. This record nudges the music in the near-sacred African direction with four extended tracks that match his soaring vocals to three of Central Africa's finest soukous big bands. The eight-minute opening track is a buoyant tour de force marrying soukous's deliciously slippery rumba beats to Cliff's shimmering tenor. His extended notes come already shaded with hints of the ancestral past, so the chemistry holds true in his two collaborations with Grand Zaiko Warwa and his one track with Afrisa International. Short but sweet, this set is well worth the price. Elena Oumano