TONI XUCLA and SOLO KOUYATE - Duna (Temps Records)

A meeting of Casamance and Catalonia that at its best puts one somewhat in mind of the Songhai meetings between Spanish group Ketama and Toumai Diabaté. Xuclà’s 12-string guitar is perhaps not quite as briskly attacked as those of the flamenco band but it’s certainly sympathetic to Solo’s playing, sometimes mirroring the rhythms, at others dancing in and out of the solos. Some fine bass playing from the Spaniard too, taking the rhythmic strain as Solo embarks on flights of melody fancy. The main reservation is the choice of songs, which seem on the conservative side as, perhaps no more than a summation of the duo’s original jams when they first met in Senegal with a handful of new numbers bolted on. It’s always nice to hear new versions of Miniamba and Jarabi, but these are quite standard interpretations. A bit more of Mari Sadio’s jaunty, playful reworking would have enlivened proceedings. However, the handful of original compositions is generally well-worked making this a highly promising debut by a duo to watch out for.

www.vesc.cat

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

IDRISSA SOUMAORO - Djitoumou/DOBET GNAHORE - Djekpa La You/VICTOR DEME - Deli/CARLOU D - Muzikr

Four albums from West Africa that all stand as reasonable albums in their own right but all of which come with a warning of inconsistency and/or a tendency to pan-African wallpaperism.

Malian Idrissa Soumaoro’s release is arguably the most disappointing of the four because all the components of a top-notch recording seem in place. It’s the most ‘rooted’ of the albums, Soumaoro is a fine guitarist who possesses a sumptuous voice pitched somewhere between Issa Bagayogo and Kasse Made Diabate, he’s backed by sweet female harmonies and is supported by a fine array of musicians.

Bèrèbèrè is the highlight - perhaps unsurprising given the presence of the late Ali Farka Touré - a rolling blues with the rustic clang of electric guitar and winding njarka violin imbuing the vocalists with a controlled, entrancing energy. There’s more similar to this, but also a number of truly dreadful ballads, one or two almost (but not quite) rescued by some Papa Noel-inspired Latin rhythm, and too much in the way of stomping bar-blues guitar. Brilliant in places (Tilénén Ya shows that Idrissa can do electric-blues restraint) but at best patchy overall, Djitoumou is one to check out in its entirety on Spotify or similar before purchasing based on hearing its better moments.

www.lusafrica.com

Cote D’Ivorean chanteuse Dobet Gnahoré continues to develop her smooth and inclusive West Africanised pop on her third album, backed by a tight, standard pop/rock setup that dresses Dobet’s striking vocals in all manner of Afro-European musical attire. When it works – as on the soukous guitar of Evigne or Cote D’Ivoire’s uplifting brassy patriotism – Gnahoré offers a genuine threat to Angelique Kidjo’s crown as the queen of pan-African soul. And that voice – strong, rangy, full of fire and beauty – can’t fail to impress, although there’s always a danger of the all-things-to-all-people approach resulting in over-engineered arrangements, resulting in a few too many moments where the strive to touch all crossover bases leads to bland tunes with unimaginative squared-off drumming only briefly enlivened by sporadic token Afro wigouts. And that becomes somewhat formulaic after a while, leaving Djekpa La You deserving of cautious recommendation only.

www.contrejour.com

www.dobetgnahore.com

Late-bloomer Victor Démé provided one of the feel-good stories of 2008. After years of obscurity, the forty-something from Burkina Faso’s shoestring debut album and moving live appearances brought plaudits and a more-than-modest fame (in France at least) that has transformed the lives of those around him. It’s probably a bit churlish, then, for some of us admit that the charms of that debut release largely passed us by in what felt like a samey blend of mid-tempo acoustica and too-smooth crooning. It’s a relief, then, to report that the follow-up feels a lot more like the real deal. Victor has a silky, aged voice in the mould of Boubacar Traoré which contrasts well with his bouncy picking guitar style. And on Deli that basic template is filled out by kora, violin, some sparky ensemble vocal arrangements and a number of funky calabash-coloured mid-to-up-tempo numbers. It still gets a tad wishy-washy in places, making the track-count of sixteen a bit burdensome, but pick out any one of the best ten or so tracks here and you begin to see what the fuss was about. Not half bad.

www.chapablues.com

Last but by no means least comes the debut international release by former guitarist and hip-hopper Carlou D, a follower of the Baay Fall group like his compatriot Cheikh Lô and with a similar combination of good, strong vocals (with some impressive falsetto thrown in) and a loose and funky mix of mbalax, ngoni and acoustic guitar. Kora and sax lend variety, and there’s a nice hint of Cuban rhythm in places. The songs do tend to blend together somewhat however, and some of the rather bland balladeering makes the “Senegal’s next great musical export” publicity puff seem a bit over the top. But there are worse albums you could put on as background to the weekend chores. A promising start.

www.worldmusicvillage.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.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Sénégal – Echo Musical (Syllart )

African Pearls number...difficult to keep up – nine or ten is it?...takes us back for some more of the dense Cubano-to-mbalax dance music of the mid-1970s that crept into the earlier, more earthy and folkloric collection in this series, Teranga Spirit and then broke forth on the excellent Sénégal 70 – Musical Effervescence. Featured here are many of the stellar acts that represent the apogee of urban Senegal’s vibrant mbalax scene. Star Band, Youssou (how clear, how pristine that voice was even in the early days), Ifang Bondi and Super Diamono are the headline acts on what is probably the best of the Senegal collections in the series so far. As an introduction to the sabar-thwacking polyrhythm, meaty guitar lines that ripple out in all sorts of ear-grabbing sonic directions, oh-so-seventies keyboard wigs-out and thumping brass that took this nation on a great musical leap forward, you probably couldn’t wish for more. It’s good to see Orchestre Guelewar de Banjul amongst the choices. Originally hailing from Gambia, on Wartef Jigen they exemplify the gritty, urban soul that speaks so redolently of the urbanisation of the West African musical milieu at the time.

As with all of these carefully-chosen, well-annotated and informative rounds-up of Ibrama Sylla's golden-era Syliphone productions, Echo Musical comes highly recommended for all those who are interested in the gold-dust days of West African popular music. And this one, rich as it is in some of the cherry-picked tracks from some of the best albums of the era, goes down as the best starting point yet for this possibly never-to-be-bettered period for Senegalese music.