Stocking Stuffers 2010

Fri. 12/2: Georges Collinet and the Afropop brain trust make the picks, and bring you the best of the best albums of 2010!

Despite global recession, political turmoil, and the near collapse of the record industry, this year has produced another bumper crop of scintillating music releases from Africa and the diaspora. Salif Keita and Bassekou Kouyat? vie for top honors in a crowded field of new music from Mali. Konono No1 are back with more trance grooves from the urban Congolese dreamscape, Tony Allen has his first full-on afrobeat release in six years, and Angelique Kidjo has scored another knockout with her look back on a unique musical upbringing in Benin. And there is so much more?