The international, pan-generational project Keleketla! started when Rangoato Hlasane and Malose Malahlela, founders of Johannesburg's Keletetla! Library, were approached by Ruth Daniels of the charity In Place of War and asked which producers they would most like to work with in a collaboration with South African musicians. They expressed interest in several Ninja Tune artists, particularly label founders Coldcut, and so the duo of Jonathan More and Matt Black flew to Johannesburg and recorded sessions with several musicians, singers, and rappers, including Sibusile Xaba, Yugen Blakrok, and members of the collective Soundz of the South. Back in England, they shaped the material with additional contributions from legendary drummer Tony Allen, visionary saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, rap godfathers the Watts Prophets, and several others.
Keleketla! packs a wide array of styles, tempos, and moods into an hour, with the album's central themes including hope for the future, celebration, and unity through music. Considering how much is going on at any given time, the songs never feel overstuffed, and every voice and instrument is allowed to shine. Opening tune "Future Toyi Toyi" is basically a gqom track arranged for a full ensemble, with a full chorus rhythmically chanting over dark, droning synths and heavy polyrhythms played by Tony Allen. (Allen passed away months before the album's release, and without being a conscious tribute to him, the release is certainly a testament to the widespread influence of the Afro-beat sound he helped build with Fela Kuti back in the 1960s and '70s.) "International Love Affair" is equally rousing and tender, with several vocalists (including Xaba, Nono Nkoane, and Thabang Tabane) trading affectionate lines over waves of horns from Antibalas and fiery solos by Hutchings, among numerous other contributors. From those two easy standouts, the album switches between more easygoing numbers, such as the laid-back celebratory Afro-house of "Shepherd Song" or the relaxed chill-out reggae of "Broken Light," and more commanding, revelatory ones. "Freedom Groove" is a poetic call for resistance featuring words of inspiration by the Watts Prophets, and Johannesburg rapper Yugen Blakrok pours out her soul over the skipping garage beats and fluttering horns of "Crystallise." "Papua Merdeka," another stunning Afro-beat rhythm, carries a message from exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wanda, who tells the story of his childhood village being bombed by Indonesian military, and the campaign for his nation's freedom. Keleketla! is a powerful combination of activism and musical exploration, bonding the sounds of several locations and eras in order to express messages of joy, optimism, and revolution.