BIBI TANGA AND THE SELENITES

40 Degrees of Sunshine

2012-08-06

For his second release for Nat Geo Music, Bibi Tanga continues his exploration of funk and soul filtered through a world lens. Together with producer Le Professeur Inlassable, The Selenites get their groove on to poetry written by the likes of William Blake. In fact, the lyrics for tracks, "Poet of the Soul" and "My Heart is Jumping" were taken from Walt Whitman himself (Leaves of Grass). Sometimes singing in French ("Happy Dustman"), sometimes in his native Sangho ("Banda A Guikoua"), but most often in English, Bibi Tanga mixes it up yet still succeeds at making 40 Degrees of Sunshine slightly less "world"-sounding than its predecessor. While I liked last release, Dunya, better than this one, 40 Degrees of Sunshine is still a damn fine album. Rebecca Ruth

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