For
Afrika, South African expatriate bassist
Johnny Dyani enlarged his group to a septet from the quartet formation he had used on prior Steeplechase recordings and, in the process, shifted gears slightly from the deeper, beautifully bitter songs that had been his forte (such as "House Arrest" on Mbizo) to a somewhat lighter fare, replete with catchy, skipping melodies and funky electric bass. Something of the township feel, so basic to his work, was also lost by replacing
Dudu Pukwana with veteran saxman
Charles Davis and by the odd inclusion of steel drums which supply a lilting quality. All of these elements make for a perhaps less satisfying effort that others by
Dyani but still a fairly enjoyable one. His bass figure at the beginning and end of "Grandmother's Teaching" is almost worth the price of the album and a great example of the sort of thing that no one but
Dyani could accomplish, and "Funk Dem Dudu" retains enough of that "African cry" to make one yearn for more. With its relatively short song times,
Afrika might have been his stab at a bit of popular notice and is certainly a fun record, if not up to the heights of classics like his
Witchdoctor's Son. ~ Brian Olewnick