Na Afriki (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Dobet Gnahore (vocals, sanza, percussion); Manu Hermia (flute); Boris Tchango (drums); Mahamadou Koné, Boni Gnahore (percussion); Myriam Betty (background vocals).

Author: Dobet Gnahore.

Photographer: Michel DeBock.

Translators: Sayon Camara; Boni Gnahore.

A lovely, gentle dose of Afro-pop from an artist originally from the Ivory Coast, but now based in France as fighting tears her homeland apart. Her second disc, and the first under her own name, finds her assured and in control throughout, whether on uptempo pieces like "Ma Poo" and "Dala," or the slower material like the gorgeously aching "Khabon N'Daw." At times she moves left of the mainstream, like on the brief "Pygmees," with its layered vocables and percussion, creating a startling interlude before easing back into the duet "Palea," which is almost African R&B, and smooth as silk (she does it again with "Deuil"). That Gnahore's emerging as a major talent is beyond question; her voice can prowl between lulling softness and fierce pride, and the arrangements that frame the songs are never intrusive, simply there to set off and enhance her singing. She's already been nominated for a BBC Radio 3 World Music Award for her debut, and it's quite probable that this will bring her another. She's the equal of any young African singer around these days. ~ Chris Nickson minimize