"International Love Affair" Released: 11 June 2020
Keleketla! is the self-titled studio album by British/South African musical project brought together by Johannesburg's Keleketla! Library founders Rangoato Hlasane and Malose Malahlela and English electronic music duo Coldcut. The album's title means "response" in the Sepedi language.[1] It was released on 3 July 2020 via Ahead Of Our Time. Recording sessions took place at Trackside Creative Studios in Soweto, at Denmark Street Studios and at Assault and Battery Studios in London.
Keleketla! was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on nine reviews.[3] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 7.7 out of 10.[2]
Adriane Pontecorvo of PopMatters praised the album saying, "Consistently exciting, always surprising, and full of soul, it is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable releases of the year to date".[8]AllMusic's Paul Simpson stated, "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".[4] Safiya Hopfe of Exclaim! said, "With contributions from over 20 artists, including such musical giants as Tony Allen and Thabang Tabana, Keleketla! is a collaboration of rare magnitude. It is at once a celebration and a call to action".[5] Jemima Skala of Loud & Quiet said, "Keleketla! breeds an impossibly enticing sense of hope that one day things might be better".[6] Writing for musicOMH, Steven Johnson said, "In short, it’s an album that demonstrates the continuing merit of musical collaboration while also offering a hopeful counterpoint to a world all too often consumed by negativity and strife".[7]The Guardian reviewer Ammar Kalia said, "Here, the component parts of hip-hop, jazz, dub and protest music are pieced together, like the many languages of a diasporic conversation. If the call is for music Keleketla!'s multilingual, effusive response is one worth hearing".[9]
Accolades
Publications' year-end list appearances for Keleketla!
