dumama (Gugulethu Duma) is a South African singer and cultural nomad. kechou (Kerim Melik Becker) is a German-Algerian multi-instrumentalist. Together they form a group making such forward-facing music that it feels ancient. dumama’s Xhosa vocal harmonies soar over kechou’s inventive beats made from a blend of electronics and African acoustic instruments. The album follows a shape-shifting woman leaving prison and finding freedom, but even if you can’t understand the words, you can feel the story. I can’t recall a single album that makes abstractism sound so rooted in reality. In all honesty, it may be better that you can’t understand the lyrics; the record sets such a tone of mysticism that it makes you not even want to attempt to understand. It leaves you comfortable in the unknown.
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Recommended: leaving prison, for madala, intaka, mother time
March 2020 // Mushroom Hour Half Hour