A Guide to the Birdsong of Western Africa

Using the birdsong of endangered species throughout Western Africa as a point of inspiration, this benefit compilation brings together artists as wide-ranging as Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and Nigerian DJ/producer Sensei Lo to explore new creative pathways. The results are all gorgeous in their own ways, and run the gamut from Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars’ pointed but pretty, reggae-inflected “Sierra Leone Prinia” to Ruth Tafebe’s languid, soulful “Nimba Flycatcher” to the urgent batida of DJ Marfox’s “São Tomé Grosbeak.” What threads them all together isn’t just the occasional samples of the birds’ songs themselves, but a reverence for the project’s meaningful, preservation-based underpinnings.