Toure Kunda - E'mma

Whenever a Putumayo recording walks through the door, you know it’s going to be a great Friday party. This new record is called World Hits, and it’s almost as if the compiler went through our collection and eartasted his way to the top world music recordings of all time, which this collection is. You’ll hear Gipsy Kings, Jimmy Cliff, Mongo Santamaria, Kaoma with their great tune Lambada, etc etc. But what’s most fun is the songs that were mainly hits in Europe or just barely scratched the top 100 here in the US.

In that light, I chose Toure Kunda as the taste of the day, an african reggae flavored piece of pound cake flavored with a touch of cinnamon. They know how to get the dance party started with rhythms that start my flying feet soaring smoothly around the floor.

The first shoutout goes to Miriam Makeba, with a version of Pata Pata recorded twenty years after the huge world-wide hit. Her voice is much more mature, and the music has much better fidelity than the familiar hit version. The other shoutouts go to Johnny Clegg with Scatterlings of Africa and Manu Dibango with Soul Makossa.

“A portion of Putumayo's proceeds from the sale of this album will be donated to World Learning .” An investment you’ll enjoy listening to for many years!

Putumayo Presents: World Hits