Mali music reviews

This is a fantastic album. There is a great blend of traditional Malian music along with a few outstanding tracks of cuban influenced music. Everything is outstanding and the great music will keep you grooving all the way through. A must buy!

Like his previous recordings, KASSI KASSE keeps it simple and harmonious with primarily traditional instruments and style with just a small touch of modern technique to enhance the recording quality.
�A real surprise is the use of Orlando "Cachaito' Lopez, the great Cuban musician, on double bass. Of course, Cachaito is the latest star in a long line of family musicians, so maybe it's logical he was chosen for this recording: he fits right in, uplifting the African music without standing out or showboating.

Have you ever heard about the Manding people of West Africa? Their powerful sounds? If not, go right away and get yourself some bites of Kasse Mady. And very especially his Kela Tradition. Kasse Mady's Kela Tradition, a chef d'oeuvre (masterpiece)of a unique kind has managed, like the works of Bembeya Jazz National, to recast the lost Manding person back in his or her cultural soul, thereby recreating in him or her the sense of Pride/Courage, Integrity and Love, which are virtues that are very dear to the Manding people. The work is susceptible to exercise the same influence on you if you are not from this community in West Africa. As for the Watts (the sounds) the Balafon (xylophone) that Mady sings in "Bala" is very much soul-soothing, and better still, capable of moving you even if you are of a stone made. If you heard that the Manding society in its origin was predicated on hunting, you are not wrong. The hunting practice supercedes every sector of the imaginary: Manding Mory, a Hunter kills so ruthlessly wild animals that they convene to liquidate him. But he foils their connivence and plots and positions himself as the Only One capable of lording it over other beings, animals included. His fame, like that of Soundjata Keita of the Mali Empire, is recounted with very melodious sounds. Non-Manding friends that listened to it at my place, loved it and appreciated it very rightly. That's why, I will ask you to go get the Kela Tradition, and stop being told the joy and pleasure of listening to the record. But, assuredly, you will enjoy every single bite of the sounds today, just as our Forefathers loved the sounds that Kasse Mady is attempting to approximate here. You will love it in the future. Translation: the joy is ad vitam eternam. Trust me!!!