Words by Justin Turford

The Berlin-based Afro-fusion outfit Jembaa Groove have been on our radar since their debut album ‘Susuma’ brought their dreamy, light touch blend of soul and jazz-influenced highlife and Afrobeat to the world. Formed in late 2020 by Ghanaian percussionist, vocalist and songwriter Eric Owusu and Berlin born bassist, composer and producer Yannick Nolting (after a synchronous meeting whilst collecting their respective kids from kindergarten), Jembaa Groove was initially a 7-piece yet it has always been Eric and Yannick at the centre of the band and this new E.P. sees them working as a duo this time albeit with some very special guests in tow.

Their musical backgrounds reveal much about where they are now. Eric was born in the Ghanaian capital, Accra but spent many years in Nigeria before developing into an accomplished sideman who regularly worked with highlife legends Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas. Yannick’s peripatetic musical life has included jazz training in Germany before exploring traditional forms in various African countries, Brazil, India and Turkey as well as a number of years working with Lusophone artists in Lisbon. Add in a shared love of US soul and jazz and the richly coloured palette they work from is comparable to the UK Afrobeat-jazz septet Kokoroko, their laidback virtuosity similar but appreciably different.

Their 2022 debut album ‘Susuma’ gained them immediate critical acclaim, smooth Afrobeat tracks like ‘Bassa Bassa’ showcasing their expert collage of Eric’s butter-rich multilingual vocals, jazzy chords, tight horn arrangements (check the Sir Duke-influenced horns on ‘Bassa Bassa’) and polyrhythmic groove sensibility. Not just anchored to Ebo Taylor style highlife, elements of Wassoulou music from Mali and Ghanaian (Akan people) Adowa became part of the band’s hybrid sound, a funky composite of influences that in their skilled hands feels remarkably natural. The second album ‘Ye Ankas / We Ourselves’ followed in 2024 and brought in guests K.O.G. and the great Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, the band stretching out in all directions but without losing what was now, an identity of their own.

Onto 2026 and we have this four track E.P. ‘Be A Lover’, Yannick and Eric’s signature sound embellished by key guests from the UK, Nigeria and Mali. Having met the Nigerian highlife revivalist brothers The Cavemen at a festival in Amsterdam, Lagos came calling. In fact, Cavemen bassist Kingsley Okorie co-produced three of the tracks here and you can sense the pared-back space that The Cavemen have become synonymous with on these particular songs.

The only song not involving the Nigerian brothers is the Yannick-produced opening number ‘No Pain No Gain’, which features East London-based but Nigerian-born, Ademola ‘Azekel’ Adesuyi. Viewed through an immigrant’s eyes, purposefully simple lyrics in English about resisting temptation and maintaining focus are sung beautifully over astral synths and glittering keys that Roy Ayers would surely love. Add sublime horns, a guitar motif by Nathan Badu that quietly embeds itself into your mind plus a rhythm section as relaxed and sensual as polyrhythmic percussion and bass can be and you have a perfectly judged Afrobeat-jazzy-R&B fusion deserving of a high chart position in a fair world.

The brightly lit title track ‘Be A Lover’ sees The Cavemen’s Kingsley Okorie taking over bass duties as Lagos Afro-fusion artist Tim Lyre gives a heartfelt Afrobeats-esque vocal turn calling for love over violence - “be a lover, not a fighter”. The marriage of the classic 70s/80s percussion groove with polished guitar, synths and vocals (including harmonies from Eric and Kingsley) lends the song a delightful freshness, delivering quality Afro-pop without the omnipresent stain of autotune.

The Cavemen: Benjamin James & Kingsley Okorie

The Cavemen’s exuberant drummer and falsetto singer Benjamin James joins his brother Kingsley on the super-laidback ‘Obi’, probably the song most indebted to Ebo Taylor (or even the celebrated Igbo highlife legend Celestine Ukwu) on the record. Kingsley’s weary baritone intones softly over the most chilled of highlife grooves, his bass and his brother’s drums sitting back as dreamy electric guitars and languid horns take their sweet time. Benjamin’s wild falsetto interruptions bring a welcome friction to the otherwise elegant performance.

The final song on this gorgeous record brings together a ‘supergroup’ of sorts. Jembaa’s Yannick and Eric and The Cavemen’s Benjamin and Kingsley are joined by one of the leading contemporary lights of Malian music, Fatoumata Diawara. Over (another) relaxed groove, the much-loved singer-songwriter and actress unveils her unmistakably powerful vocal in response to Eric’s quietly sung-spoken verses: a beautifully constructed contrast of human voices that is given another dimension from Benjamin as he throws out his own high-pitched exclamations.

It’s great to see Jembaa Groove back and in such fine form. This E.P. feels like it just came together when the time was right, as unhurried as the tempo of the songs themselves. It’s also always a joy to discover new talents and I’ll be following Tim Lyre and Azekel from hereon. This is undoubtedly high quality Afro-fusion that can only build on their ever-growing global audience. 9/10.

Released September 18th 2026.

BUY HERE! https://jembaagroove.bandcamp.com/album/be-a-lover-ep