Transition

If there’s one artist who treads the fine line between vernacular afro-house crossovers and its global commercialisation it’s Armani Kombot-Naguemon aka Boddhi Satva. Born and raised in the Central African Republic, schooled by US house royalty including Osunlade and Louis Vega, and resident in Brussels then Lisbon he’s certainly a man of the world. And this 2015 breakthrough album is like an Afro-diasporic United Nations with star vocalists from the UK (Omar), Nigeria (Davido), Kenya (Karun), France (Les Nubians), Cape Verde (Nelson Feitas) the US (Bilal, Teedra Moses, Georgia Anne Muldrow) and more. It hints at the very slick kinds of Afro house that would become de facto soundtracks for the ultra rich in the 2020s, but nonetheless – setting to the tone for his mature work – it’s gorgeously crafted and frequently very potent stuff.