Tiken Jah Fakoly - Dernier Appel (Barclay/Universal)

Tiken's English lyrics are often a tad too simplistic to our taste, so as usual we were more drawn to the French and African tracks ('Dakoro', closing track 'Saya') on 'Dernier Appel'. 'Tata', a song that already featured on Tiken's 1999 'Cours D'Histoire' album, deserves a special mention: the song is dedicated to Tiken's first love left behind in Ivory Coast after Tiken headed for Europe. Alpha Blondy's 'Mystic Power' album, released last year, already featured the duet 'Reconciliation', symbolizing the reconciliation between the two Ivorian reggae heroes and Tiken and Alpha repeated the gesture for 'Diaspora', unfortunately not the strongest number on 'Dernier Appel'.

Other guests popping up in the track list popping are Sierra Leonean-German singer-songwriter Patrice and Nigerian-German singer Nneka. Where the duets on 'Dernier Appel' are concerned, the revamp of Max Romeo's 'War Ina Babylon', on the album seamlessly blending into John Lennon's 'Give Peace A Chance', couldn't really convince as it sounded just too commercial, but 'Human Thing' featuring Nneka is one of the gems from the track list. With the album's title Tiken wanted to indicate that the African continent is at a crossroads in its history; it's now or never and time to launch a last call for unity.