Afrorack could easily be the name of a superhero, and in a certain sense it is. This album, out on Kampala’s Hakuna Kulala label, is the celebration of the new wave of African electronic music, most of all the swarming spirit of a scene that arose in the last decade and it’s in fact making history. Among the pioneers of the new pan-African sound is Brian Bamanya, father of the Afrorack, and the mind (and hands) behind this album. After discovering modular-synth music, Brian had a mission: building his own modular synthesizer. He began hunting for components and, relying on tutorials found on the Internet, he started his own DIY journey. In 2018, the African version of the Eurorack was born. “The Afrorack” is Bamanya’s debut album, a masterpiece where the pioneering attitude of his creator is tangible, not only for the instrument he built, but mostly for the way he used it to forge a new frontier of sound, where modular patterns mingle with East African rhythms. If you were searching for the African Vangelis, look no further.