Tony Allen, Hugh Masekela album slated for March release

The eight-track Rejoice album is the result of a few recording sessions that took place in 2010 when the two artists’ touring schedules coincided in the UK.

The project was left unfinished but after Masekela passed away in 2018, Allen and producer Nick Gold, with the permission of the South African musician’s estate, dug up the original recordings and finished the album in the summer of 2019, in the same London studio where they had started recording nine years earlier.

Allen and Masekela are accompanied on Rejoice by a new generation of jazz musicians including Mutale Chashi (Kokoroko), Tom Herbert (Acoustic Ladyland/The Invisible), Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective) and Steve Williamson.

Allen, who has been working across the genre spectrum in recent years and is credited on Angélique Kidjo’s Grammy-winning album Celia, says the collaborative offering is “a kind of South African-Nigerian swing-jazz stew.”

“The lyrics address people at 17, 18, 19 years old who are slowly becoming more mature, finding out who they are and realising that it’s their generation’s turn to wake up,” Allen said about the track ‘We’ve Landed’, which was released on YouTube last week.

Rejoice tracklist:

1. Robbers, Thugs and Muggers (O’Galajani)
2. Agbada Bougou
3. Coconut Jam
4. Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be the Same)
5. Slow Bones
6. Jabulani (Rejoice, Here Comes Tony)
7. Obama Shuffle Strut Blues
8. We’ve Landed

Pre-order Rejoice via World Circuit Records here. The first 50 pre-orders of the LP will be signed by Tony Allen.