The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

The story goes something like this. The Very Best are Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit, the French/Swedish "ghetto-pop" producers. They met in Clapton, East London when Radioclit’s Etienne Tron brought a second hand bike from Esau’s used furniture store. They struck up a conversation; Tron found out Esau could play the drums and asked him to come to their house party. However it was Esau’s singing that really impressed and the trio set to work on a now legendary mixtape which sampled Vampire Weekend’s ‘Cape Cod Kwassa’ Kwassa, M.I.A’s ‘Paper Planes’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Will You Be There’ and the Beatles’ ‘Birthday’, and added Esau’s voice to create something totally original.
 
The mixtape was an underground hit in 2008 and there first proper album is a triumph in 2009. It’s rare that you find African pop united with western production to create a sound that works in its own context – rather than a coffee table fusion. It doesn’t quite scream Clapton at you, though neither does it really scream Mali. But wherever it’s from, it works. The first track ‘Yalira’, is atmospheric and sparse and draws your attention to Esau’s uplifting melodic voice. And so the album continues.
 
The title track has an air of familiarity to it. A niggle solved when you realize its Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend singing the verse. The fact that he sings in barely comprehensible English somehow adds to the experience. ‘Nsokoto’ is a little more techno and like ‘Angonde’, makes use of auto-tune. M.I.A pops up on ‘Raindance’, though her contribution is a little lackluster. ‘Kamphopo’ is the only track that reappears from the mixtape.
 
The reason it works so well is, of course, the rhythm. The eighties production consists of a series of long, precise, looping sounds (no inaccurate grunge guitar) with a sparse dub-step beat. Esau’s voice is similar – melodic, yet pinpointed and rhythmically spot on (no Mariah Carey warbles). Although Esau has one up on the machines and it’s his very human expressions that draw you in. Why this same trick doesn’t work for countless europop travesties you hear on your hols is a mystery. But such are the wonders of life and such are the wonders of Warm Heart Of Africa.