Palm World Voices: Africa [CD, DVD, Book & Map] [CD+DVD]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 19, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: CD+DVD
• Label: Palm Pictures / Universal Music Enterprises
• ASIN: B0009ZE9Q2
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,520 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Ata N'Dele - Ray Lema

2. Ja Funmi - King Sunny Ade

3. M'Beddemi

4. Paquita

5. Nafanta

6. African Woman

7. Maya - Baaba Maal

8. Yala - Pepe Kalle

9. Africa - Oumou Sangare

10. Carnaval de São Vicente - Césaria Évora

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Yala [DVD] - Oumou Sangare

2. M'Beddemi [DVD]

3. Ja Fumni [DVD]

4. N'Dego [DVD]

5. Paquita [DVD]

6. Ata N'Del [DVD] - Ray Lema

7. Maya [DVD] - Pepe Kalle

8. Vulindlela [DVD]

9. African Woman [DVD] - Brenda Fassie

10. Nafanta [DVD] - Baaba Maal

Editorial Reviews

This deluxe package includes the following elements:

- An audio CD featuring Juju star King Sunny Ade, Senegal’s Baaba Maal, Afro-pop artist Salif Keita, and more.

- A 60 minute DVD that provides a fantastic visual journey through Africa accompanied by a Dolby 5.1 surround music track

- A beautiful 48-page book with stunning photos of Africa and an essay penned by acclaimed British journalist Robin Denselow

- An exclusively designed poster map created by the National Geographic Society that provides more detail about the people, music and geography of Africa

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, January 8, 2006

By 

rai (Osaka, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palm World Voices: Africa [CD, DVD, Book & Map] (Audio CD)

I know you should review the CD/DVD as it is, and not compare it to some imaginary version in your head, but with this one it is too hard. It just seems like a huge missed opportunity to do something much, much better.

Ok, the map is great, and the booklet has stunningly beautiful photos. Of course it is impossible to give any kind of serious over-view of the stunning variety of African music in a single CD, and I didn't expect it. If you want a nice over-view of the amazing variety of music in Africa, I would recommend the three-CD set, Africa Never Stand Still, if it is still in print. I am a big fan of most of the artists on this CD (King Sunny Ade, Oumou Sangare, Cesaria Evora, Cheikh Lo, Pierre Akendengue, Pepe Kalle, African Fiesta, etc.) but their music is readily available elsewhere. No, I bought this specifically for the DVD, and that's the only really weak part of the package.

When you see a DVD with a bunch of artist names listed on it, what do you expect? Music videos? Live footage? Interviews? I certainly did, and I was really looking forward to seeing Cheikh Lo performing. Unfortunately, that is not what you get. The songs are used as a soundtrack for random, largely unexplained footage from Africa. Nigerian singer King Sunny Ade's (CLASSIC!) "Ja Funmi" is used as background music of footage from...Kenya. Malian Diva Oumou Sangare's music is used as background for footage of from Mozambique and Ethiopia. The music is great, and some of the footage is wonderful (I particularly like the footage of the marketplace in Uganda, and of the coronation in Uganda, the latter of which featured music from...the Congo). I just don't understand who decided to mix and match the countries and music, as if they are all somehow interchangeable. It is absolutely disorienting to keep having to check the booklet to see who is singing what from where, and where the footage was shot.

Another complaint is that sometimes in the footage a small local group of musicians will break out into a performance, with people dancing and obviously enjoying the music, but we never hear it, because we are stuck with the pre-recorded soundtrack.

I think this video might be nice playing anonymously in the background of a party, where people could just enjoy the music and occasionally watch the pretty images, but even then they would be frustrated if they wanted to know more about who was performing what from where. If they could have at LEAST matched the music to footage from the same country, I would have given this four stars. I know Palm Pictures can do better than this, because I would rate their Baaba Maal CD/DVD set in this series SIX Stars out of five, and he's not even one of my favorite singers.