It’s a dozen or so years now since former 60s Malian pop star Boubacar Traoré resumed his music career after a period spent mourning his wife and labouring in Paris. Having reinvented himself as a mature acoustic-guitar-and-vocals man who straddles American blues and the traditional music of his native Khassonké, each subsequent album has ploughed a similar, unvarnished and largely unvarying stream of smoky, lightly-sandpapered (if marginally weaker) vocals and nimble minimalist picking. The slight difference this time out is the substitution of virtuoso guitar runs that we have seen in the past for the flavoursome strains of Vincent Butcher’s harmonica, an empathetic and economical support that would steal the show if only that plaintive voice wasn’t some much like the return of an old friend. With discreet auxiliary support from Mahamadou Kamissoko on ngoni and Fassery Diabaté on balafon, chalk Mali Denhou as another fine set from the troubadour from Kayes.
No comments:
Post a Comment