[1] The compilation was curated by Francis Falceto, who also produces Buda Musique's Éthiopiques series.

[2] Phil Stanton, co-founder of the World Music Network, was the producer.

[5] The compilation's release was met with generally positive reviews.

Robert Christgau compared it with Éthiopiques (which had reached eighteen volumes by 2004), calling the recording "peaky" & "fluent".

[6][7] Writing for AllMusic, Adam Greenberg described it as an "outstanding album" portraying an "entirely unique" sound.