Rafiki Jazz - Har Dam Sahara

The Guardian 60

(Riverboat)

This is an elegant, mesmerising album of devotional songs from Africa, the Middle East and Asia by a British band who specialise in multicultural fusion. Based in Sheffield, Rafiki Jazz are an eight-piece who began as a collaboration between local musicians and migrant and refugee artists, and whose current lineup comes from four continents. Their four singers include Sufi soul exponent Sarah Yaseen and Avital Raz, a singer-songwriter born in Jerusalem who has studied music in India, while the backing includes west African kora, Arabic oud and ney flute, Indian and Brazilian percussion and even Caribbean steelpan.

Their inventive set includes Coptic Christian praise songs given an Indian edge, a stately, tuneful tribute to the founder of the Mouride brotherhood in Senegal, and the Pakistani Qawwali classic Mustt Mustt treated to a kora solo. It’s impressive, but I could have done without the spoken passages.