Reviewed by Eric Saeger
Mahlasela, a David Ortiz-lookalike African singer-songwriter and inspirational anti-apartheid voice, has become a cause célèbre among the ATO crowd and beyond to Josh Groban and others who’ve recorded with him with the aim of spreading his messages. Say Africa, Mahlasela’s 7th album since 1992, finds him parked comfortably in Dave Mathews’s ATO studio, purposefully doling out a breed of folk that’s only mildly ethnic in sound for the most part and, in fact, very American at times (he’s a dead-ringer for Gordon Lightfoot in ‘Conjecture of the Hour’). This isn’t to hate, on any level, of course – anyone who isn’t keen on fixing those hilariously exploited countries has to have some seriously messed-up wiring – just stating that I would have liked to hear less Americanization and more Hugh Masekela-like vibe, not that tunes like ‘Ro Yo Tshela Kae’ don’t do the trick or that there’s a massive void of authenticity.
Grade: B-
