Modern Gospel from West Africa

On her first major recording foray outside of Nigeria (and surrounding countries), gospel star Chidinma Okafor assembled a collection of the better-known pieces in her repertoire. The album focuses on her breadth in languages (she sings in Yoruba, Igbe, Hausa, and English as the mood and song take her) and her fairly modern approach to gospel music. The music itself contains a lot of elements of the regional popular musics, with guitars reminiscent at times of soukous, the occasional call and response of highlife, and — above all — the mix of guitars, trap drums, and traditional instruments central to King Sunny Ade-style juju. African gospel tends to begin and end with South African versions (based largely on isicathamiya) on the Western market, and Okafor presents another viable option here.