{"product_id":"in-the-music-the-village-never-ends","title":"In The Music The Village Never Ends","description":"\u003cp class=\"p5\"\u003eExiled from her native South Africa by apartheid for more than a quarter-century, Letta Mbula’s enchanting voice found her feted Stateside as collaborations with everyone from Harry Belafonte to Cannonball Adderley and Michael Jackson piled up. Her solo albums welded Western and African styles, yet despite prime production work from the likes of David Axelrod and Quincy Jones, her music sold in limited quantities, no doubt hampered by Mbulu’s reluctance to sing in English. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003e1983’s In The Village The Music Never Ends is packed full of the sunny ebullience that found her so admired. Hitching a ride on the US boogie bandwagon, the likes of Sweet Juju and Vumani Makhosi subtly subvert the prevailing formula with a sprinkling of township pop rife with sweetly plucked guitars. Two tracks in particular stand out: Normalizo offsets a fabulously meaty synth bassline with a beautiful chanted chorus, while the pretty Down By The River paints a rich picture of idyllic village life, with synths mimicking exotic birds as the softly undulating rhythms evoke the flow of water.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Letta Mbulu","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59408773448015,"sku":"5508","price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0887\/6785\/6975\/files\/Letta_Mbulu_In_The_Music_The_Village_Never_Ends.png?v=1793881913","url":"https:\/\/secondlinerecords.com\/products\/in-the-music-the-village-never-ends","provider":"Second Line Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}