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Ancestry in Progress
Ancestry in Progress is an album by Zap Mama, released in 2004.[2][3] Marie Daulne, Zap Mama's leader, deemed the music "Afropean".[4] The album peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's World Albums chart.[5] ProductionThe album was mostly recorded in Philadelphia, where Daulne worked with musicians associated with the Roots.[6][7] It contains contributions from Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Questlove, Bahamadia, and Common.[8][9] Daulne sings in French and English, while also employing chants from Pygmy music.[10] Critical reception
Exclaim! thought that "'Bandy Bandy', with Erykah Badu, stands out because of its polished immediacy."[14] The Baltimore Sun determined that "Daulne blends the ancient (her trademark pygmy onomatopoeic vocal techniques and chants) with the present (smoothed- out, atmospheric grooves)."[6] The New York Times concluded: "Half of the album comes across simply as neo-soul with a Belgian accent. But the other half—especially 'Show Me the Way'—meshes Zap Mama's dizzying, ping-ponging vocal polyphony with pithy hip-hop beats and a pan-African assortment of guitar curlicues."[15] The Sydney Morning Herald opined: "Singing in both French and English, she's a breathy African Bjork one minute, an operatic Afro-funk diva the next."[16] Rolling Stone considered that "despite rap cameos and world-beat sound effects, the grooves are as bland as bad neosoul, and the songs sound like bundles of self-consciously eclectic singing."[13] AllMusic wrote that "this is far more an urban recording, where urban pop and nu-soul are informed by worldbeat esthetics rather than the other way around."[11] Track listing
References
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