Sounds of Africa: Daara J

Last weekend I was sitting in the living room of my aunt's house surrounded by family, shooting the breeze and just having a good time. My little cousin was trying to steal the spotlight from his dad whose birthday we were all there to celebrate, and there was food coming out of every corner. In the midst of all the fun, I heard something streaming out of my other cousin's iPod that just refused to go unnoticed. Background noise moved straight to the foreground for me. I saw the name Daara J ("school of life") on the iPod and that was that! I just knew they would be a new favorite of mine. This Senegalese trio mixes hip hop, rap, reggae, and Afro-Cuban beats in French, English, Spanish of their native Wolof. I know it sounds like they have a lot going on, but it totally works as you can hear in this song. You can check out (and buy) their albums on iTunes and Amazon.

On that note, I hope you have had a good first full week of 2010! Have a great weekend!