I'm overdue for a CD review.

I recall this CD purchase easily. This is one that follows my normal practice. I read a review online, probably at the New York Times, then located some sample songs, gave them a few listens on the iPod, then purchased the CD at full price from Amazon.com. It's a little rigid, making sure I audition tracks before I buy. When I don't find anything this way, I tend to end up buying a lot more jazz CDs...

The CD in this case is Ujumbe, by Samba Mapalanga & Orchestra Virunga. For me the act's musical style is a familiar one, Soukous. As is my custom, I won't bother giving you in-depth details describing the style, so here's a Wikipedia article about Soukous, but Samba Mapalanga is a long-time star in the genre. The important things to know about Soukous is that the style originates in the African Congo region, frequently uses Latin rhythms as an underpinning, typically deploys at least two or three guitars (tuned to a non-Western scale), and the guitars usually play complex patterns with overlapping riffs and finger-plucking leads. Usually, they sing in French or their local tongues (typically Lingala, if I understand these things).

Ujumbe isn't a bad example of Soukous, if you're looking for one. About three quarters of the disk is electric, but the group takes an unusual turn with acoustic guitars now and then--and just to make sure things are different, they also use a nice touch of horns, complete with the occasional saxophone solo. This gives the disk a broader variety of sounds and textures than most of my Soukous disks, and that's a nice touch. My very lousy ear for lyrics tells me that the lyrics are in heavily-accented French and English, plus an African tongue. This is good stuff, with fresh, bright, ringing guitars and nicely shaped melodies.

8 out of 10.