Review of AfuriKo’s Tao album (2019) on Jazz à bâbord. French critic Bob Hatteau’s blog features album reviews, artist interviews, and covers live jazz shows occurring in and around Paris. The article (PDF version here) was also featured in the October 2019 issue of a magazine published by Improjazz, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and distributing improvised musics and all kinds of jazz.
🇫🇷 “À l’image de la pochette du disque, un yin et un yang aux couleurs chamarrées d’un papillon ou d’un boubou, Tao marie l’Afrique, l’Asie et l’Occident dans un joyeux melting pot de notes et de rythmes.”
🇬🇧/🇺🇸 “Just like the CD cover, a colorful yin-yang symbol reminiscent of a butterfly or a boubou dress, Tao blends African, Asian, and Western influences in a joyous melting pot of notes and rhythms.”
Review of AfuriKo’s debut album On the Far Side in Afrique Asie (November 2014), a monthly magazine that focuses on the African and Asian continents at large, specializing in political analysis and economical, social, and cultural information. Edited in Paris, the publication is regularly distributed in over fifty countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, as well as North and Latin America.
🇫🇷 “Une musique qui respire, pulse, bifurque, badine. Inclassable et jouée avec une exquise délicatesse, au détour d’improvisations sournoises. Élaborée et à la fois sincère et spontanée. AfuriKo est en principe un duo absolument atypique. … À découvrir d’urgence et à y entrer doucement.”
🇬🇧/🇺🇸 “Music that breathes, pulsates, bifurcates, trifles. That is unclassifiable and played with exquisite delicacy, in the course of sly improvisations. Elaborate yet sincere and spontaneous all the while. AfuriKo is in essence an absolutely atypical duo. … I urge you to discover them and slowly enter their world.”