Today, the acclaimed music phenomenon Africa Express has released two new singles in celebration of their highly anticipated forthcoming studio album, Africa Express presents… Bahidorá. The songs “Hacernos Así” (featuring Luisa Almaguer, Damon Albarn, Seye Adelekan, Nick Zinner, Joan As Police Woman and the Mexican Institute Of Sound) and “Invocation” are now released on all streaming platforms.

Mexican singer and songwriter Luisa Almaguer is featured once again on “Hacernos Así,” which is a passionate and deeply personal meditation on being transgender in a hostile world. She sings, “Te propongo algo quitarnos la ropa, y hacernos así” (“I’ll tell you what, take off our clothes, and make us like this,” while being backed by Albarn on piano, Joan As Police Woman on violin, Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on guitar and Adelekan on bass.

The track is accompanied by a profoundly moving video, filmed during the album recording sessions in Mexico and captures an extraordinary and emotional moment of musical collaboration and human connection. This powerful song is also joined by “Invocation,” a dark, haunting and mystical hymn to the ancestors and ancients from Congolese singer Jupiter Bokondji and K.O.G.

Africa Express started in 2006 in Mali, connecting local stars Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyaté and Amadou & Mariam with visiting artists including Martha Wainwright, Fatboy Slim and co-founder Albarn. Now it is a globally-known project, yet it never loses its capacity to surprise, whether live or on record. It has invited Western artists to countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Mali, staged collaborative concerts lasting up to seven hours from Liverpool to Lagos, taken a train filled with musicians around Britain to mark the London Olympics, reformed a Syrian orchestra divided by civil war and recorded the first African interpretation of Terry Riley’s minimalist classic “In C.”

Photo Credit: Marv Watson