Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate – Passport

Cumbancha just announced their first release for 2014 and its the debut album from Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate, titled Faya (out Feb. 18, 2014).

Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate really prove that music is its own language: Driscoll from Syracuse speaks no French and Kouyate, who hails from the West African country of Guinea, little English.

Driscoll contributes the rapping, looping, beatboxing and songwriting talents, while Kouyate is bringing the exalted West African harp into the 21st Century with use of distortion peddles, effects and previously-unimagined technical prowess. Together, Driscoll and Kouyate blend hip-hop, spoken word, funk, and soulful, accessible rock with Afrobeat, reggae and irrepressible African grooves.