Aki Special

Album Review

An album from the seminal highlife artist Prince Nico Mbarga. Here, he shows in all its glory his panco style, borrowing bits and pieces from reggae and funk and depending heavily on the basic soukous guitar and highlife rhythms. The basis of it all is still highlife. The album collects a number of his works from the African Onitsa label. The highlight is almost inarguably "Sweet Mother," his first (and maybe only major) hit from a relatively long career. Many of the songs sound somewhat similar to one another, but all retain the necessary groove consistently to make it a dance record. Pick it up as a fan of Prince Nico or as a general highlife fanatic. Looking for a display of the diversity of African music shouldn't lead you to this album, but it might make for an enjoyable ambient album at any given party.