AFROCUBISM - AfroCubism (World Circuit WLWCD085)

What’s fourteen years between friends? The myth of the delayed visas (or vagaries of West African musician patronage, depending on who you ask) has been recounted often enough, as has the tale of how the scuppered African-Cuban get-together turned into the happy ending to a lifetime’s artistic expression for the venerable gentlepeople of the Buena Vista Social Club. Meanwhile thwarted Malians Djelimady Tounkara, Bassekou Kouyaté et al ploughed successful, if less internationally lucrative, furrows of their own whilst the initial plan simmered away in the back of producer Nick Gold’s mind.

Cut to Madrid 2009, and finally the original idea has come to the boil in the form of BVSC constant Eliades Ochoa and his Grupo Patria alongside the aforementioned guitarist and ngoni player, who are joined by compatriots Toumani Diabaté on kora, Lassana Diabaté on balafon and Kasse Mady Diabaté on vocals.

It’s the Cubans that form the basis of the sound, laying down the trademark BVSC shuffle – the brush of tres guitar against deft, polyrhythmic congas, double-bass keeping things ticking along – in and out of which the Malians interlace their finest Cuban-inspired melodies.

There’s an even split between songs of African and Cuban provenance. Amongst the Cuban highlights is the Beny Moré son La Culebra, on which Kouyaté’s ngoni acts a delicate echo of the acoustic guitarists. Lassana Diabaté adds light rhythmic spice and Tounkara interjects with chiming electric guitar right out of the (Cuban-inspired) ‘70s Rail Band songbook.

On Al Vaivén De Mi Carreta the full ensemble is tight to the swaying guarija groove, with Eliades and Kasse Mady alternating verses between short, improvised leads-in from each instrumentalist. Overall lead vocal responsibilities are shared between the two singers, Ochoa’s succinct delivery - that familiar plaintive lived-in tone - complementing Diabaté’s silky elongated phrasing.

Other highlights include Mariama, a traditional Malian song co-adapted and robustly delivered by Eliades and Bassekou; a shivering version of another standard Jarabi, with Kasse’s vocal soaring majestically over Lassana’s balafon swells; and the rollicking Mandé song Benséma on which Eliades proves to be a riffing equal to Bassekou and Toumani.

It’s been some wait, but a pleasure delayed and all that, and word has it that the ensemble recorded another album’s worth of tracks while they were in the Spanish capital. A fourteen month gap will be quite enough next time round then, guys.

www.worldcircuit.co.uk

CHEIKH LO - Jamm (World Circuit WCD084)

No-one does the pan-African roots-pop thing quite as well as Cheikh Lô, do they? This is only the fourth international release from Burkina Faso-born Senegalese in the decade and a half that he’s been operating, but the wait is once again rewarded by an album replete with melody and supple rhythms and which, like its three predecessors, has very much its own distinctive musical imprint.

With Lô now into his sixth decade, Jamm’s overarching outlook is one of maturity and repose, allying a soulful, slightly introspective mood to the customary rhythmic snap of earlier releases. This more considered, nostalgic mode is reflected in covers of decades-old Latin-tinged tunes by Bembeya Jazz and Amadou Balake, and a loose, Orchestra Baobab-style treatment of the Spanish-language Seyni, the first song Lô ever sang in public. Pee Wee Ellis stamps his authoritative tenor sax on this and other tracks. It’s deep and bluesy on the ballad Sankara, sharply focused in solo on Bourama and underpins the circular guitar melodies on the delightfully poppy Il N’est Jamais Trop Tard . And Cheikh’s voice sounds as good as ever, accentuated perhaps by the downbeat nature of much of the material. There’s not quite as much of the scat singing and jolting Wolof diction of the past, which gives more rein to the smoke-aged abrasions on his otherwise satin-smooth tonal timbre. You can almost smell the plumes as he reaches for the warbly falsetto on the title track, and there’s something satisfyingly Salif about the catch in his throat on Sankara.

So a more mature, reflective Cheikh then, but Jamm’s none the worse for that. And for all the reworking of old tunes and balladry there’s plenty enough in the way of positive, upbeat fare too. Dieuf Dieul – what might be called a typical Cheikh Baye Fall praise song, with its shuffling mbalax-lite rhythm punctuated by the clack of the sabar drum, joyful praise vocals and hearty sax breaks - is possibly the highlight of an album that might be low on truly standout moments but which is a rare thing these days, an album that is consistently listenable from start to finish and a worthy addition to an already impressive canon of work.

www.worldcircuit.co.uk

Afrocubism

It's coming!!

ALI FARKA TOURE & TOUMANI DIABATE - Ali & Toumani (World Circuit)

Mindful perhaps of the Mali-fatigue that seems to be affecting some parts of the world/roots community, this sedate and beautifully textured release arrives to somewhat less of a fanfare than its highly praised predecessor, In the Heart of the Moon. However, Ali and Toumani is at least as worthy of our attention given the timeless and empathetic approach these two master musicians have to their craft - or had in the case of Ali Farka, of course, this album having been recorded in London in 2005 against the backdrop of pain and illness that the cancer-stricken Touré endured at the time.

It’s difficult not to read some of that setting into the serenity that marks this far more measured and spacious release. The guitarist is no more or less mellow than he was on the earlier album – or indeed his last solo album, Savane – but there is a deference in Toumani’s playing that suggests some attempt to eschew much of kora player’s improvisational abilities in favour of a musical resolution between the Peul and Mandé traditions of the two musicians. The virtuosity is never too far from the surface though, Ali’s hypnotic circular melodies acting once again as a base for kora notes that spiral, shimmer and fall with studied grace. Ali punctuates those moments with moves into the instrumental spotlight that are more considered but no less effective, with regular traces popping up of some of his favourite melodic motifs from the past (once more for that heart-stopping Kadi Kadi riff) occasionally buttressed by his gruffly welcoming voice.

Ali and Toumani is an exercise in note-perfect, expressive restraint, anchored at times by the silky bass – at once lithe and darkly melancholic – of the (now also sadly deceased) Cuban Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez, and burnished with some subtle finishing touches by Vieux Farka Touré and his band. Fully deserves as many plaudits as its garlanded predecessor.

www.worldcircuit.co.uk

OUMOU SANGARE - Seya (World Circuit)

The briefest of percussive rattles kicks off Sounsoumba, giving way to a buzzing balafon ripple supported by the merest shiver of shaker. The band kicks into a dense, bubbling groove as the crack of kit drum heralds a flute that drifts in and out of light, sensuous female harmonies. And then it arrives, that golden, commanding voice confidently moving through the intricately woven instruments, at times a stylish bantering response to the call of the backing singers, at others graceful, almost haughty in the way it glides over shifting rhythms.
Yes, Oumou Sangare's back at last, with her first new international release this century. She’s still not shy of tackling heavy subjects alongside the usual Malian tributes and tales (Sounsoumba calls for more respect for women, the high-tempo Wele Wele Wintou rocks against forced marriages) and still framing those themes in a rich, intense layering of sound (an organic yet markedly contemporary setting realised with unerring clarity by production/arrangement team Nick Gold and Cheikh Tidiane Seck).
Some tracks are delivered in a straight group configuration, whilst containing flavors of Oumou’s Wassoulou roots. The title-track is driven by kit drum and horns, but leaves plenty of space for the entwined acoustic chatter of bolon and ngoni. Elsewhere there are hints of jazziness, notably on Kounadya, where silky backing vocals and Seck's flighty Hammond organ fills rub along agreeably with guest Zoumana Tereta’s earthy soku fiddle and one of Sangare’s more soulful, teasing deliveries.
That track is one of a handful that feature the incongruous sound of a slightly screechy electric guitar buried almost apologetically in the mix. A welcome new element for some maybe, but to this listener it runs against the melodic grain. It’s employed sparingly enough not to spoil matters, and far more in keeping is the cleaner, bluesy electric guitar line and plugged ngoni on Donso, which - with its use of male backing vocalists and a part-talking, part-singing lead vocal delivery - is the most ambitious track on the album. Mogo Kele is the best example of the sparser numbers, a dusty kamele n’goni, acoustic guitar and percussion the only ornamentation required. But Iyo Djeli is where it all comes together most satisfyingly. An undulating Manding rhythm (the Iyo Djeli roll?) is laid out on a bed of strings, the female backing singers a playful counterpoint to Oumou's sonorous, echoing vocal. A punchy horn section (shades of Toumani's Symmetric Orchestra) and ringing plucked guitar are added as the song resolves in a luxurious, swaying instrumental finish; pitch-perfect with everything in the right place.
So, there it is: Oumou’s bravura return, the Songbird of Wassoulou as imperious to behold as ever as she stands proudly above all competition.

World Circuit