DONSO - Donso (Comet)

It is easy to see why this confidently-executed and edgy album has the support of uber-cool personages such as Radio One’s Giles Peterson. Donso is the creation of French producer and DJ Pierre-Antoine Grison (aka Krazy Baldhead) who fashions a multi-layered electronic base for Malian singer Gédéon Papa Diarra, with Thomas Guillaume and Guimba Kouyaté adding threads of organic lustre on ngoni and guitar. Fans of Mamani Keita’s Electro Bamako and Yelema albums will know how the judicious application of crunchy pre-programmed beats can accentuate the repeated vocal motifs of Bambara phrasing, and Diarra’s child-like nasal tenor works in large part because of its remarkable similarity to his compatriot (Diarra lacks some of Keita’s presence, though, and so Mamani is very welcome as a backing vocalist to bolster a number of tracks).

Highlights include Mogoya, whose popping beats and squealing synths could be mistaken for a Missy Elliott/Timbaland production if it were not for the intricate buzz of ngoni working in and around it. On the propulsive Hunters a looped ngoni figure fades in and out of alternately thin and thick layers of snappy electronica. On Diya, the bassy hum of Guillaume’s donso n’goni predominates, pulling the rhythm in all sorts of interesting directions. Djandjigui is more guitar-driven, and thus most reflective of the band’s live sound. It also features Diarra’s best vocal - supple, confident, playful with the intricate use of melody. More of that next time round and Donso really will be close to an Electro Bamako II.

www.myspace.com/donso

ABDOULAYE TRAORE & MOHAMED DIABY - Debademba (Naive)/DIOM DE KOSSA - In My Father’s Shadow (Talik)

Debabemba means “big family” in Bambara, and there’s a feeling of extended family get-together about this beefy, sonically wide-ranging album that was hatched in the bustling Parisian suburb of Belleville. Traoré, a guitarist originally from Burkina Faso, has teamed up with Ivorian Diaby, a singer with a remarkable voice that combines the forceful declamations of his griot antecedents with velvety, emotive expression.

Produced and arranged with a sumptuous Parisian-African sensibility, the album is topped and tailed by a folsksy ballad and a salsa workout, between which the listener is taken on a whirlwind tour of electric Bambara, jazz, soul and blues, tinged with Afrobeat in places and all of it infused with strains of Andalusion guitar and Arabic textures (including the snaking, breathy melodies of flautist Naissam Jalal).

If that sounds a bit too rich a mix, at times Debademba does trip over its own ambitious attempt to create such a melting pot of styles, particularly in the two extended jazz inflected workouts that weigh down the midpoint of the album. But either side of those tracks, Debademba exudes impressive reserves of vibrancy and inspiration.

Agnakamina – all tumbling rhythm, twangy guitar and wild flute – crackles with energy; Kiele Djola builds a strummed mandolin opening into an up-tempo blend of north- and west-African grooves; and Loundotemena swings exquisitely around acoustic guitar, with balafon with ngoni melodies trailing and mimicking those of gospel-style female backing.

Guest singers Fatou Diawarra and Awa add more distaff variety in consecutive songs towards the end of the album, the latter’s slightly other-worldly tones breathing character into Camille Hablar’s cello on the off-kilter Africa Blues. All of which tips the balance of this appealing album in favour of successful execution of myriad influences against the overwrought mess it could so easily have been.

www.chapablues.com

Diom de Kossa is an Ivorian singer whose spacious album contains tunes that sound as if they were written for outdoor summer airing. De Kossa floats easy melodies in his strong baritone voice over a stock electric four-piece backing, with backing singers and the deployment of traditional instruments such as the konting lute leavening arrangements where the repeated choruses and ever-so-slightly extraneous lead guitar or drum fills can lead to a serious case of festival-style mind-wander, although there’s usually enough of an edge to snap the listener back to attention. With a couple of jaunty traditional numbers beaten out on the Yadoh drum, Baba Toulenga makes for a decent, unobtrusively feel-good summer soundtrack.

www.talik.no

Etenesh Wassie and Mathieu Sourisseau

Etenesh Wassie & Mathieu Sourisseau - Burtukane
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BALLAKE SISSOKO & VINCENT SEGAL - Chamber Music (No Format)

A new configuration for the kora, and it’s a remarkably snug musical fit that is as intriguingly intertwined as Scandi-Senegalese duo Ellika and Solo’s meeting of kora and violin, and as stately a piece of work as Ballaké Sissoko’s cousin Toumani Diabaté’s ventures into classical kora crossover.

The Malian’s former Label Bleu label-mate, Frenchman Vincent Ségal, brings his classical cello background and work with trip-hop experimentalists Bumcello to an album that was recorded, apparently in de rigueur straight-no-overdubs takes (oh, how they must have rehearsed!), in Salif Keita’s studio in Bamako (Ségal also crops up on the latest Salif Keita album, La Difference).

And as the title suggests, Chamber Music possesses a small-scale formality and refined air, although the improvisational characteristics of Sissoko’s instrument aren’t completely discarded. Instead his crystal-clear melodies work their way around and through Ségal’s vivid, often melancholy, tones, never venturing too far from their resonant anchor, and often in unison with the Frenchman’s instrument whilst always just pushing the extemporisation envelope enough to hold the attention.

There’s little of the intensity we heard on Sissoko’s 2005 album Tomora. These feathery melodies build slowly, floating just within reach of the listener whilst Ségal…well, what drama and variety he brings to his instrument, at times light-touch and violin-like, at others grabbing the spotlight with rumbling, trembling rhythms, and at others offering the merest velvety murmur whilst Ballaké teases out repeated melodic motifs.

Fans of Anouar Brahem will relish the way Histoire de Molly (one of three Ségal compositions) constructs a simple, nagging melody which is revisited and developed at the end of each short improvised wander – an impressive restrained use of space and obvious musical empathy displayed here - and another highlight is Future, which opens with what sounds like the growl of a Mongolian throat singer (Vincent’s cello has a disconcertingly human timbre at times) then fades into a study in pinpoint mellifluous minimalism.

Additional elements such as bolon, balafon, karignan scraper and guest singer Awa Sangho complete the picture of an exemplary album that arguably confirms Ballaké Sissoko as the pre-eminent practitioner of his craft, completing as it does a trio of truly masterful releases by the Malian following Tomora and the 3MA collaboration of 2008. As equal partner on Chamber Music, Vincent Ségal must take his share of the plaudits for that.

www.noformat.net

ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE BARBES - Rendez-Vous Barbes (Le Chant Du Monde)

Rendez-vous Barbès marks something of a return to form for the Maghreb assemblage which has planted its musical flag in the Parisian cultural mélange after which the band is named. Their previous album, Alik, held plenty of appeal but was blighted in places by its Négresses Vertes/Rachid Taha-style rock pretensions, and although the hard-edged urban cool, gruff vocals and deep and groovy rhythms remain, the solid north African roots of earlier releases are once more totally to the fore throughout.

Having stripped away much of the in-yer-face guitar and drums, the beguiling mix of whirling chaâbi synthesizers, accordion, oud, solid bass grooves and shuffling percussive phrasing becomes more apparent, all of which is leavened with just a taste of Arabic pop fromage.

Algeria is always the biggest North African influence, on top of which is added some down and dirty Moroccan funk, driven by the twanging woody drive of the guimbri (Moroccan bass-lute) on gnawa-influenced tracks such as the album’s high-watermark, the stark and hypnotic Laafou.

There’s plenty in the way of lighter stuff too, albeit not always as successfully delivered as the trademark rollicking Barbès fare. No No No has an enticing Moussou-T catchiness, but maybe lacks some of the Occitan troupe’s self-awareness, and Rod Balek veers too close to cod reggae at times (in contrast to Chorfa’s appealing dub skank). But these weaker moments are outweighed by tracks such as Denya, a bright slab of rai-pop which possesses the authentic ache of Algerian love balladry. And closing track Allah Idaouia is subtler still, with oud to the fore as the song shuffles along with a chorus that treads just the right side of the line between and singalongability and banality. They’ve softened quite considerably for this one have Orchestre National de Barbès, whilst retaining enough edge to keep established followers happy. A satisfying move in the right Arabic-pop-meets-roots direction.

www.lechantdumonde.com

JACKY MOLARD QUARTET & FOUNE DIARRA TRIO - N’Diale (Innacor Records)/DIABEL CISSOKO & RAMON GOOSE - Mansana Blues (DixieFrog)

The radiant Foune Diarra will surely be one of Mali’s next stars. Possessing a voice that’s powerful yet as sinuous as the slight frame that betrays her past as a dancer with the Malian Ballet, she dazzles and seduces with a mixture of supple soulful charm and rousing declamation worthy of an Oumou Sangaré or an Amy Sacko. Backed by the dry, chirpy strains of kamele ngoni player Kissim Sidibé (no mean vocalist himself) and Alhassane Sissoko’s animated djembe drum, the Foune Diarra Trio is an ensemble to be reckoned with. But that’s not the half of it. Bambara meets Breton on N’Diale with celebrated fiddler Jacky Molard commanding his quartet of violin, double bass, accordion and saxophone to lay an impressive array of European folk idioms over the core West African base. Celtic jaunts straddle Brittany and Ireland and Balkan textures come and go in a melange that could have amounted to bit of an unholy mess in less assured hands. Instead it all knits together with seemingly ease, these seven consummate musicians unafraid to let the tunes take as long as required to unravel (seven minutes seems an optimum time), with much of the impetus coming from the restrained Gallic jazz saxophone that Yannick Jory interlaces with the overall texture. A fine album from start to finish.

www.innacor.com

www.myspace.com/ndiale

These cross-cultural collaborations arguably miss more than they hit so we are doubly blessed this month because the meeting of Senegalese singer/kora player Diabel Cissokho and former Eric Bibb sideman Ramon Goose has much to recommend it too. This one comes from the blues end of the spectrum with Goose playing a mean old slide guitar as well as predominantly tasty acoustic picking that nestles comfortably alongside Cissokho’s engaging and economical kora melodies. Diabel has a chocolate- rich voice that’s well-suited to these rootsy mid-tempo workouts, and Ramon has a decent crack at injecting some chunky blues-rock riffs to the tougher moments. Electric bass, drums and calabash complete the picture and it all comes together most effectively on Yeurmande, a flavoursome mix of slide guitar, mellow kora and undulating Mandinka rhythms. There are some ho-hum blues-rock moments too but it’s a mostly successful outing.