AYOBA MUSIC MAG Aug. 2012 | Page 11

Yet, here, an African nation is convincingly held up as a world leader in a forward-thinking and resolutely 21st-century context. What's more, this seems not just credible, but entirely natural - inevitable, even. Now, that's a thought that leaves one yearning to visit South Africa - World Cup or no World Cup.

Simon Hampson is a music critic in London