On their third album, Bokanté have plugged into the blues, tracing the genre's roots in West Africa and the Arab world through the diaspora into the retro-modern present. These nine tracks tell — with lyrics sung mainly in Guadeloupean Creole — of outsiders and seers, memories and joy; of black history, global unity and the futility of war. Of taking time to rest, feel, love. Of the redemptive power of music — as a conduit, a change maker, a muse.
History finds Bokanté exploring further, dressing folkloric instruments including the Arabic oud, West African ngoni and North African guembri, the bass lute favoured by Morocco's Gnawa maalems, in western clothes.
On their third album, Bokanté have plugged into the blues, tracing the genre's roots in West Africa and the Arab world through the diaspora into the retro-modern present. These nine tracks tell — with lyrics sung mainly in Guadeloupean Creole — of outsiders and seers, memories and joy; of black history, global unity and the futility of war. Of taking time to rest, feel, love. Of the redemptive power of music — as a conduit, a change maker, a muse.
History finds Bokanté exploring further, dressing folkloric instruments including the Arabic oud, West African ngoni and North African guembri, the bass lute favoured by Morocco's Gnawa maalems, in western clothes.