Stephen Richard Hackett is a British guitarist and songwriter born on February 12, 1950. He gained fame as a member of the progressive rock band Genesis, which he joined in 1970. Hackett participated in the recording of eight albums of the band, left it in 1977, after which he began a solo career.
Africa Fête '98
1998
World Music / African Folk / Worldbeat
Here's a compilation that was put out by Island Records in 1998 in order to promote the upcoming Africa Fête festival, an event that started in late 70s France to showcase African musicians, and then also embarked upon US tours throughout the 90s.
But up front, I gotta say, that I did not enjoy this particular album. I really do love all kinds of music that comes from all corners of this planet, but the world music circuit is something that's a bit different, and you really shouldn't conflate it with all the music that occurs in places outside of the US, Canada, and most of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Because as much as that circuit wants you to believe that it encapsulates everything that's not derived from those white-majority places, I don't think it really does. All the sounds that it presents can be eclectic, sure, but all of it seems to be the result of having been run through a salad strainer in order to be served up to your lovely puffer vest-wearing aunt, who really means well, but can't help but exoticize the shit out of it.
All this folky worldbeat stuff feels particularly catered to a specific subset of people—the NPR-loving crowd—and ultimately, while I do enjoy some of it, most of it's not really my bag, tote or otherwise. The stuff that the highbrow culture enjoyers don't get exposed to because it doesn't fit the adult contemporary banality of the world music scene is what I'm far more interested in. And none of that's really on this CD.