It's the most wonderful time of the year, the time to find out who's been naughty and nice. No, I'm not talking about the holiday season; I'm talking about when everyone's Best Of The Year lists come out.
I'll be rolling out my own lists over the next three weeks on Global A Go-Go. On this week's program (Sunday December 18, 1:00-3:00 PM on WRIR, for two weeks afterwards at wrir.org/listen, check your local listings for airing on other radio stations, and any old time at my podcast site) I'll present my top ten new albums of 2022 plus ten honorable mentions.
Next week on Christmas Day it will be Global A Go-Go's Irie Christmas Spectacular: all reggae, calypso and soca Christmas songs with myself and special guest selector Eric Walters (host of Wide Ear Folk, heard alternate Tuesdays at 5 PM on WRIR) at the controls.
In two weeks on New Year's Day, you'll hear my favorite singles and EPs of the year gone by, and in three weeks it will be selections from my favorite compilations, reissues and historic recordings of 2022.
Without further ado, here are my top new albums of 2022:
Top Ten New Albums Of 2022
1. Sona Jobarteh (Gambia-England UK) | Badinyaa Kumoo | African Guild
2. Roger Damawuzan (Togo) | Seda | Hot Casa
3. Şatellites (Israel) | Şatellites | Batov
4. Kiko Villamizar (Colombia-USA) | Todo El Mundo | Wepa
5. Madalitso Band (Malawi) | Musakayike | Bongo Joe
6. Gonora Sounds (Zimbabwe) | Hard Times Never Kill | The Vital Record / Dust-to-Digital
7. Calexico (USA-México) | El Mirador | Anti-
8. Imarhan (Algeria) | Aboogi | City Slang
9. Baba Commandant & The Mandingo Band (Burkina Faso) | Sonbonbela | Sublime Frequencies
10. Sonido Gallo Negro (México) | Paganismo | T-Vox
Honorable Mention
Afro-Zen Allstars (RVA USA) | The Buzz And The Bells | AZA Music
Cabruêra (Brazil) | Sol A Pino | Polen
Moktar Gania & Gnawa Soul (Morocco-France-Israel) | Masterisé | Musjomusic / Nuits d'Afrique
Kandy Guira (Burkina Faso-France) | Nagtaba | Vlad Productions
Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs (Bulgaria) | Doghouse | Asphalt Tango
Oliver Nayoka (Nigeria) | Oka Mmadu | Odogwu Entertainment / Palenque
Noori & His Dorpa Band (Sudan) | Beja Power! Electric Soul & Brass From Sudan's Red Sea Coast | Ostinato
The Shaolin Afronauts (Australia) | The Fundamental Nature Of Being | Freestyle
Star Feminine Band (Benin) | In Paris | Born Bad
Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin (Mali-USA) | Ali | Dead Oceans
My top 20 new albums of 2022 are available as a Spotify playlist: spoti.fi/3V5Fmy5
A podcast of this week's program will be available soon at radio4all.net/series/Global%20A%20Go-Go