Baloba!

Africando devoted its first three albums to the now-classic Latin dance music of Havana, San Juan and New York in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, but with Baloba! the group revives the classic Cuban sexteto tipico sound of the 1920 and '30s. This album's sones, guajiras and boleros are new compositions, but the buoyant bongos, maracas and guiro, the deep, comforting bass fiddle, the rustic tr©s guitar and the lyrical trumpet harken back to a bygone golden age. Yet in the same album Africando displays the breadth of its skill and style with vibrant contemporary renditions of Aicha - originally a hit for Khaled, the King of Rai - and Edith Piaf's timeless La Vie en Rose. Other songs feature the Haitian star Eugene Shoubou of Tabou Combo and the Senegalese salsero Laba Sosseh.