Gandadiko

A beautiful semi acoustic offering of Malian 'blues'. Like the recordings of namesake Ali Farka Toure this is a wonderfully accessible music, recognisable and different in equal measure. It has a blues-like sound whilst being very definitely Malian.Samba sings and plays acoustic or electric guitar. He is backed by ngoni (with it's banjo-like sound), njarka (a fiddle or violin, electric on one track), njurkel (a one stringed n'goni), bass, various percussions (calabash, doun-doun, shaker, tama) and sometimes backing vocals.The range of instruments makes quite a rich sound and the lyrics are translated into English so you get an understanding of what the songs are about. The exception being Gafoure, "an incantation to the djinn Awa Gafoure, to flatter her and finally invite her in a trance dance which will calm her danger. For your own security, the text will remain not translated. The night listening is at your own risk."Listen responsibly!

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This (in what is Samba Touré’s fourth album) is Ali Farka Touré legacy finally taken to next gen & next lev, with the result of ostentatively forward (and North American)-leaning, applied desert pop and blues. The familiar, finely inflexed guitar ullulations of the Songhai blues are taken – at times via electric – firmly to Chicago (both style- and arrangement-wise), and included are nice little surprises everywhere – female backing at times in the Touareg (not Songhai) style, and vice versa ngoni sprinkled throughout, you even get to hear Senegalese talking drums (decently, we‘re Mali) and there is some very innovative njarka (the one-string fiddle, in Songhai) playing by Adama Sidibé. Also worth mentioning are the witty lyrics – one for example is a clever take on the devil idiom (so evoking another nod to the American blues tradition) that can mean emigration or the sources of the recent Malian crisis or both, another a sarcastic (yes) ditty on industrial waste finally making it even into the remotest (and pristinest) of countrysides, and there is also a witty juxtaposition between a cheerful tune and the rather somber (literally) mood of the text. In all tight, solid, and evocative. Of course, the North American connection cuts both ways (as it could be interpreted also as Mali RE-TAKING Chicago), but for those who might entertain other preferences, or just not currently in the mood, pre-listening first may be advisable.

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