Ndzi Teke Riendzo No. 1

VINYL FORMAT. Foster Manganyi is a pastor from South Africa. His sublime music shares with Honest Jon's compilation Shangaan Electro a startling palette of sampled, synthesized sounds - the signature whistle and marimba, no bass, a little wonky high-life - and rough, fast, skittering drum patterns. Yet these are gospel songs, intensely sincere, brimming with aching, plaintive, mournful spirituality, without a trace of R&B, mangled or not; and however fractured, multi-faceted and fresh the music comes across, the surging lines and harmonies of the support singers are unmistakably rooted in the traditional vocal music of South Africa. Just in time for Christmas, this is the reissue of a hit cassette from 2008.