Africa Unite
Babilonia E Poesia

LA RECENSIONE

Africa United?

No, not anymore…

After several years of activity, in 1993, the Turin-based reggae group, with their fourth album "Babilonia e poesia," switched from English to singing in Italian and lost the last letter of their name: that final "d" which, until then, together with the language and the music, had characterized their international nature.

Until then, very few Italian artists had expressed themselves in their native language in the field of reggae and dub, and only recently Militant A had given rise to the hip hop phenomenon (in Italian) in Italy. Well, Africa Unite can be considered among the first (if not the pioneers) to do reggae in Italian, achieving excellent results (only two tracks are in English: "When People" and "Landless Riders"). "Babilonia e poesia" is, therefore, not only the album of change (our band moved from self-production to Vox Pop), but an essential album, where reggae is blended with hip hop, dub, and Mediterranean sounds ("Salmodia") and where there are also rock elements and pop melodies ("Andare"). Collaborating with the group, led by three greats of the Italian alternative scene, Bunna (vocals), Madaski (keyboards), and Max Casacci (guitars, later with Subsonica), is fellow countryman Luca Morino of Mau Mau, who adds his voice to tracks, which are party-like yet marked by criticism of contemporary society.

Africa Unite continue their activity to this day (fantastic live) alongside other interesting projects such as Madaski's solo experiments and producer work and, if I'm not mistaken, Bunna's participation on double bass with Giuliano Palma's Blue Beaters, another great in the history of Italian music.

But that's another story…