Baaba Maal:
The Traveller:
Marathon Artists:
LP/CD/DD:
Out 15th Jan 2016:
★★★★★★★½☆☆☆
Album number eleven for the Senegalese superstar of the sun-drenched Sahel naturally brings forth tales of travelling but, as its title suggests, doesn't just concern itself with endless wandering and nomadic experiences - Maal the journeyman has experiences and messages to share and a whole populous to share it with.
The Traveller kicks off with the uplifting and buoyant Fulani Rock, a fist-pumping call for hope that stars Maal's electric fretwork as well as 'a message for the people'. I hate the vocoder vocalising but I'm a big fan of the energy and busy intensity so full marks for lighting the touchpaper early on. Gilli Men builds into something really quite resplendent with elements of dub, cyclical rhythms and charged atmospherics that recall arid lands and windswept plains, while the gently undulating One Day and exquisite Kalaajo continue with the more expressive and somewhat calming approach that Maal is perhaps best known for. His style on the latter reminds me of the splendid Ugandan singer and musician Geoffrey Oryema, in particular his Realworld releases of the '90s.
And so the themes of hope, peace and war ('language as a weapon', says Maal) continue with Lampenda sounding somewhat Mumford-ish in its big epic build-up - Marshall appears on the album after meeting Maal at the annual Senegalese music festival Blues Du Fleuve and there is definitely some lineage from both acts on this album. Olympic poet Lemn Sissay adds his linguistic gymnastics to the closing 'War' and 'Peace' tracks.
Don't be put off though - if the Mumfords aren't your thing, Maal certainly should be with his intricate guitar work that so often befits African music-makers and Sissay's colourful tongue paints a descriptive picture. He's been actively spreading the word since the late '80s and deserves something more than a cursory mention in the sunday supplements and the monthlies' review pages. The Traveller is by turns a journey and a homecoming that brings sunshine to a musical genre long overdue for a revisit.
The Traveller:
Marathon Artists:
LP/CD/DD:
Out 15th Jan 2016:
★★★★★★★½☆☆☆
The Traveller kicks off with the uplifting and buoyant Fulani Rock, a fist-pumping call for hope that stars Maal's electric fretwork as well as 'a message for the people'. I hate the vocoder vocalising but I'm a big fan of the energy and busy intensity so full marks for lighting the touchpaper early on. Gilli Men builds into something really quite resplendent with elements of dub, cyclical rhythms and charged atmospherics that recall arid lands and windswept plains, while the gently undulating One Day and exquisite Kalaajo continue with the more expressive and somewhat calming approach that Maal is perhaps best known for. His style on the latter reminds me of the splendid Ugandan singer and musician Geoffrey Oryema, in particular his Realworld releases of the '90s.
And so the themes of hope, peace and war ('language as a weapon', says Maal) continue with Lampenda sounding somewhat Mumford-ish in its big epic build-up - Marshall appears on the album after meeting Maal at the annual Senegalese music festival Blues Du Fleuve and there is definitely some lineage from both acts on this album. Olympic poet Lemn Sissay adds his linguistic gymnastics to the closing 'War' and 'Peace' tracks.
Don't be put off though - if the Mumfords aren't your thing, Maal certainly should be with his intricate guitar work that so often befits African music-makers and Sissay's colourful tongue paints a descriptive picture. He's been actively spreading the word since the late '80s and deserves something more than a cursory mention in the sunday supplements and the monthlies' review pages. The Traveller is by turns a journey and a homecoming that brings sunshine to a musical genre long overdue for a revisit.