Spanish reggae duo Rampalion returns with a second album, the follow-up to last year’s Songs ´Bout Love and Fight.
On Inside the Kete Heart Juan Manuel Villa Escribano and Oscar Montesinos Marques get additional musicians to add horns and backing vocals. Otherwise this album is mostly created by themselves.
The set revolves around percussion and several of the songs are based on percussion – the bass drum, the kete drum and the funde. All three instrumental in nyabinghi music. This album is however much more than a nyabinghi effort. It has the organic and pulsating flavour of a nyabinghi album, but it’s also more melodious and catchy. Partly thanks to grand harmonies and infectious, and insanely catchy, choruses and melodies. Listen to Meditation. It sticks like glue.
Lead singer Juan Manuel Villa Escribano has a raw and passionate voice and sometimes he could be mistaken for a rock singer. On Hope he certainly shows his range. It has an 80s vibe with its uplifting horns and memorable melody.
I have ever heard a reggae album based in the nyabinghi tradition that is as easy-going and accessible as Inside the Kete Heart.
Reggaemani 