''Keleketla!'' is the self-titled studio album by British/South African musical project brought together by

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Keleketla! Library ''Keleketla!'' is the self-titled studio album by British/South African musical project brought together by Johannesburg's Keleketla! Library founders Rangoato Hlasane and Malose Malahlela and English electronic music duo Coldcut. The album's tit ...

founders Rangoato Hlasane and Malose Malahlela and English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

duo

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

. The album's title means " response" in the Sepedi language. It was released on 3 July 2020 via Ahead Of Our Time. Recording sessions took place at Trackside Creative Studios in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, at Denmark Street Studios and at Assault and Battery Studios in London.

Critical reception

''Keleketla!'' was met with generally positive reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 81, based on nine reviews. The aggregator

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

has the critical consensus of the album at a 7.7 out of 10. Adriane Pontecorvo of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' praised the album saying, "Consistently exciting, always surprising, and full of soul, it is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable releases of the year to date".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Paul Simpson stated, "''Keleketla!'' is a powerful combination of activism and musical exploration, bonding the sounds of several locations and eras in order to express messages of joy, optimism, and revolution". Safiya Hopfe of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' said, "With contributions from over 20 artists, including such musical giants as Tony Allen and Thabang Tabana, ''Keleketla!'' is a collaboration of rare magnitude. It is at once a celebration and a call to action". Jemima Skala of '' Loud & Quiet'' said, "''Keleketla!'' breeds an impossibly enticing sense of hope that one day things might be better". Writing for ''

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

'', Steven Johnson said, "In short, it’s an album that demonstrates the continuing merit of musical collaboration while also offering a hopeful counterpoint to a world all too often consumed by negativity and strife". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reviewer Ammar Kalia said, "Here, the component parts of hip-hop,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, dub and

protest music A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

are pieced together, like the many languages of a diasporic conversation. If the call is for music'' Keleketla!''s multilingual, effusive response is one worth hearing".

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

* Matthew Cohn –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(tracks: 2, 11),

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

(tracks: 2–4, 11), JammPro

MIDI controller A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...

(tracks: 5, 9, 12),

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

* Jonathan Richard More – horns arrangement (tracks: 2–4, 11), JammPro MIDI controller (tracks: 5, 9, 12), producer Vocalists *Nono Nkoane – vocals (tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 11), backing vocals (track 4) *Tubatsi Moloi – vocals (tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 11) *Thabang Tabane – vocals (tracks: 2, 3, 11) *Soundz Of The South Collective –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(tracks: 1, 10) *Afla Sackey – backing vocals (tracks: 2, 11) *Yugen Blakrok – vocals (tracks: 5, 12) *

The Watts Prophets The Watts Prophets were an American political poetry group from Watts, California, United States. Like their contemporaries The Last Poets, the group combined elements of jazz music and spoken-word performance, making the trio one that is often ...

– vocals (track 4) *

Benny Wenda Benny Wenda is a West Papuan independence leader and Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). He is an international lobbyist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia. He lives in exile in the United Kingdom. ...

– vocals (track 8) *

The Lani Singers The Lani Singers are husband and wife, Benny and Maria Wenda. They come from the Baliem Valley in the remote central highland region of West Papua in the south-west Pacific, and play songs that are rooted in the sacred rituals of the Lani tribe. ...

– vocals (track 8) Instrumentalists *Tamar Osborn –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

(tracks: 2, 4–6, 8, 9, 11, 12),

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

(track 9) * Tony Allen –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(tracks: 1–4, 8, 10, 11) *Afla Sackey –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(tracks: 1–3, 8, 10, 11), additional percussion (track 6),

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

(track 8) *Al Riley – percussion (tracks: 1, 2, 10, 11),

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(track 4), additional percussion (track 6) *Ed 'Tenderlonious' Cawthorne –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(tracks: 1, 2, 6, 10, 11),

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

(tracks: 1, 10) *Miles James –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(tracks: 1, 2, 8, 10, 11) *Gally Ngoveni –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 11) *Thabang Tabane – percussion (tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 11) *

Shabaka Hutchings Shabaka Hutchings is a British jazz musician, composer and bandleader. He leads the bands Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors. He is also a member of The Comet Is Coming, performing under the stage name King Shabaka. Hutchings has p ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

(tracks: 2, 5, 8, 11, 12) *Joe Armon-Jones – keyboards (tracks: 3, 4, 7, 9),

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(track 9) *

Martin Perna Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

– horns arrangement (tracks: 2–4, 11) *

Antibalas Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architectu ...

– horns (tracks: 2–4, 11) *Sibusile Xaba – guitar (tracks: 2, 3, 7, 11) *

Dele Sosimi Bamidele Olatunbosun Sosimi (born 22 February 1963) known as Dele Sosimi, is a Nigerian-British musician. Biography Sosimi was born in Hackney, London, England. His career began when he joined Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's Egypt 80 (1979–86). Sosimi ...

– keyboards (tracks: 2, 6, 8, 11) *Patrick Carpenter – loops & editing (tracks: 2, 11) *DeeJay Random – scratches (tracks: 5, 12) *Chris "The Jungle Drummer" Polglase – drums (track 6) *Tubatsi Moloi – flute (track 7) *Darren "Sangita" Evans – piano (track 8) * Eska Mtungwazi –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

(track 9) Technicals *

Eric Lau Eric Lau is a British music producer and DJ from London, England. His production style is characterized by heavy drums, often unrecognisable samples and a mixture of live and sequenced instrumentation. Career Lau first gained exposure with the ...

– mixing *Al Riley –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, recording, additional mixing *Andrew Curnow – engineering, recording *Dion Monti – engineering, recording *Hugh Fothergill – engineering *

Guy Katsav Guy Katsav (born April 1980) is a British record producer, mixing engineer and remixer based in London. Biography His selected credits include mixing a no. 1 album by The View (band), The View and a Mercury Award, Mercury award nominated album ...

– engineering *

Matt Colton Matt Colton (born 30 March 1975) is an English mastering engineer and member of the mastering group of the Music Producers Guild. He has mastered recordings for artists such as Muse, Coldplay, James Blake, George Michael, Hot Chip, Gary Num ...

– mastering

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2020 albums Coldcut albums Afrobeat albums Collaborative albums