Reviewed by George Luke

It says a lot about the dearth of true originality and innovation within Christian music that whenever someone has an idea that's halfway out of the box, they immediately assume that they are the first people ever to have that idea, when it's usually already been done by someone else. Last year, for instance, we had Caedmon's Call claiming to be the first CCM act to dabble in Indian music or sing about the Dalits, even though Aradhna have been singing in Hindi for over five years and Garth Hewitt has been championing the Dalits for over 20. Now we have the combined forces of Integrity Music and Pat Robertson's CBN empire claiming this joint offering of theirs to be "the first truly pan-African gospel CD" - even though Lion Of Zion's 'Africa Anointed' has been sitting in your local Christian bookshop for the last three years. And now that I've had my little rant, I'll get on with reviewing the album - which, spurious claims at being first aside, is actually quite good, despite being overly dependent on three countries (South Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon) for its content. Hardly "pan-African" then.(okay, that's the last sideswipe, I promise). Of the 13 tracks, my favourites were two of Cameroonian Andre Manga's three Makossa offerings: "Essimo" (victory) and "Massoma" (thankful). Nigerian sax man Mike Aremu blows a mean horn on "Mighty God", while Congo's Soukous Stars go all guitar-tastic on "Smiling People". At first listen, Janine Price's pop offering "I Am New" sounds rather out of place; nonetheless it serves as a reminder that the nation that gave us Ladysmith Black Mambazo also gave us Tree63 and the Benjamin Gate. If you're looking to test the waters a bit before completely immersing yourself in the world of African music, then this - complemented with the afore-mentioned Lion Of Zion compilation - is a reasonable, but nowhere near exhaustive, introduction. Oh, and by the way, Integrity/CBN - if you were planning to follow this with "the first truly pan-Latin American gospel album", N-Soul Records have already done it.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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