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| Pitchfork |
 It's fair to say that Western interest in African popular music from the 1960s and 70s has exploded over last 10 years. During this stretch, there's been an onslaught of incredible reissues and compilations, mostly from British and European labels. If there's anything this frenzy of rediscovery has shown, it's that we've only scratched the surface of the incredible amount of music that came out of that continent in those two decades. Perhaps because there's so much great music to explore in Africa, there's been less reissue attention paid to the musically and culturally related styles of the Latin Caribbean. But it seems to be happening in earnest now after a bit of a lag.Britain-based Soundway helped spearhead our dive into vintage Afro styles with its incredible series of Ghanaian and Nigerian funk, rock, soul, highlife, and disco compilations. A few years ago, it started hitting tropical sounds in the Western Hemisphere with stops in Colombia and Panama (the Panama! series picked up again last year with two more excellent volumes). Tumbélé! takes the label to the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe for a deep plunge into the relatively unexplored waters of the popular sounds of the Lesser Antilles. The disc steers mostly away from heavily funk- and soul-influenced sounds in favor of styles with more audible links to the biguine, bélé, and gwo ka music of the islands....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Tumbélé! is another inspiring release from the UK-based Soundway label, which has been busy populating the world music marketplace with compilations of obscure gems from Ghana, Nigeria, Colombia, and Panama. This album focuses on the Francophone Caribbean, specifically the Antillean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. This area would become well known in the 1980s for the highly popular zouk music, which brought together Haitian compas, Martinican biguine, Guadeloupian go-kwa, European music, and Anglo-American pop. Tumbélé! captures the formation of this hybrid style in the pre-zouk years, when Latin American, European, and African styles were combined to produce dance music of an equally infectious quality. The bulk of the recordings come from the archives of Martinican Hit Parade label and the Guadeloupian Disque Debs and Aux Ondes labels. These labels allowed for the recording and dissemination of a great wealth of local music, making this a golden period for the recording of Antillean music. The booklet accompanying Tumbélé! is a joy, containing informative notes by Hugo Mendez alongside photos, posters, and, best of all, reproductions of the original record sleeves. These faded time capsules are miniature masterpieces of tropical design, providing iconic invitations to another, impossibly exotic time and place....full text |
| Xlr8r |
| In the landscape of re-released indigenous pop, the Caribbean sticks up like Mount McKinley—the briefest trend from the tiniest island can quickly be deemed box-set-worthy. Yet throughout all those calypso/ska/soca/reggae/etc. compilations, Soundway Records has managed to come up with something not only original, but exciting to chin-stroker and rump-shaker alike. Tumbélé! collects music from Francophonic islands such as Guadeloupe and Martinique that slinks Paris-café style while still shaking with Afro-Latin rhythms. Highlights include Raphael Zachille's "Manzè Mona," with languid horns gliding over a driving beat, and Lola Martin's "Edamise Oh!," which, like so many tracks on Tumbélé!, is as ready for the floor today as it was four decades ago....full text |
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