Mali music reviews

THIS IS THE KIND OF MUSIC I EXPECT TO LISTEN TO, WHEN I GO TO HEAVEN!!!!....WELL,.......IF I END UP GOING THERE!!!
I DON'T KNOW OF A TUNE MORE HARMONIOUS, ETHEREAL AND DIVINE THAN "KITA KAIRA"......OF ALL THE EARTHLY MUSIC THAT I'VE LISTENED TO, THIS IS THE CLOSEST THING TO HEAVENLY MUSIC!!!!
"YAMFA" IS ANOTHER OUTSTANDING MELODY FROM THIS GEM!!!
FROM THE "KAIRA" ALBUM..."ALLA LA KE", "KONKOBA" AND "KAIRA", COMPLEMENT THESE MASTERPIECES OF HARMONY!!!
I JUST HAVE TO THANK GOD FOR ALLOWING ME TO LISTEN TO THIS HEAVENLY MUSIC,.....RIGHT HERE..........ON EARTH!!!
TOUMANI AND BALLAKE THE TALENTED ANGELS ON KORAS!!!

Thank God for Amazon's music samples. It's impossible to describe to someone just what this plucked African string music sounds like. You have to hear it for yourself. It's absolute auditory refreshment.

this is one of my favorites. needless to say, it is beautifully ritualistic in the light of tranquility.

I own 2 CDs by Toumani Diabate, Kaira and New Ancient Strings. Perhaps it's because I had Kaira first and fell in love with the kora through this CD, but Kaira is definitely my favorite of the two (don't get me wrong - I love both and actively listen to both). On Kaira Toumani Diabate plays solo kora, and when I realized that this was one person playing one instrument with no overdubbing I was floored. The music has so many layers to it, bass lines, rhythm, melody, that it is amazing to know it comes from only ten fingers (not sure how many of those you actually use to play the kora). It is beautiful, complex, ethereal, and somehow motivating all at once.

When I went to the hospital to give birth I brought 2 CDs with me - this one and Putmayo's Music from the Tea Lands collection (I highly recommend this one too). As I played these 2 CDs over and over (and over and over) during labor the hospital staff kept complimenting the music and the atmosphere that it created. Ultimately I gave birth to the Toumani Diabate CD, with the doctor humming along. I still listen to this CD all the time, after having owned it for years! This is a true testament to any music, that it stands the test of time.

It is very lively music, armonious and easy to listen. It sounds quite modern and light, almost danceable.

This is my favourite CD featuring Toumani Diabate. If you are interested in kora music, this is THE album to get

Galactic is a great group. Very funky. This is not my favorite album of theirs, however. The music is all good, but it gives me the impression that they didn't have enough songs ready for an entire album. There seems to be a lot of the same throughout. Nevertheless, what is there is good.

If you're going to own a funk cd, or any cd for that matter, get this one. I don't throw the term "favorite album" around lightly, and this is definitely one of my top 3 favorite albums. Maybe it didn't change the face of music like Kind of Blue or Darkside of the Moon did, but it is truly great. If you're looking for an album that can get you movin, this is the one. BUY THIS ALBUM!!!

This was my first funk/jazz CD, and it changed my whole perspective on music. Amazing musicality built on such simple riffs and themes is present here, from the guitar to the organ, from the sax to the trumpet, no instrument overlaps another, everything is superbly organized and layered. This band comes complete with and African-American singer, giving the music the soul of a black man with the blues, even though he only sings in a couple of tracks. Other than that, the wah of the guitar provides the soul at some points, then it is replaced by a solo "battle" between the sax and trumpet. The music then shifts to a jungley mood with great drumming and trumpeting. There is also a percussion intermission with more guitaring, and the final song features trombone and organ solos, and a free-for-all jamming session, even though the whole CD sounds like a jam. Either way, this is good stuff, it made an impression on me at the very least. You want funk? Look no further.

This bad boy rocks the party, not in a violent, infantile way, but in a gentle, solicitous, cradle swaying manner. Not that the party would then fall asleep or anything, such kind of lie restfully, enraptured, dreaming lucid dreams staring at the ceiling. Guitarisms are sublime throughout, sounding incredibly full for such sparse arrangements. His best in my opinion, and who would contradict me?

I've owned the CD for nine years, and it has always stayed close to me. This is to my mind the best album available of Toure's music. As stated in the editorial review, it is bare bones acoustic. Ali's voice and guitar cut straight to the soul. He is accompanied by sparse but tasteful percussion.

I recommend this above the Talking Timbuktu album. It is a classic that belongs in every collection.

This is an excellent collection of mellow African blues,nothing is too complicated in this music - really simple, organic sounds with beautiful rythems and wonderful guitar playing.I would recommend Toure to any serious music fan, and this is my personal favourite out of all his albums.

Yep! you'll like it. This is good stuff, maybe a little bit repetitive if you had to make a comment, but I liked it all the way. Easy to approach, easy to like and enduring.

This Album is SO wonderful to listen to. Just beautiful sound rining, bouncing... it is hard to put to words. But this CD has some really wonderful sound. A pleasure to have playing while cooking a good meal with a friend, or just quitely kicking back after a long day. Restorative and takes you to a nice place.

Aside perhaps from the necessary hype to introduce a Malian musician to Western listeners who don't know where or what Mali is, I don't hear much similarity to American blues music in this Ali Farka Toure release. Except maybe the pentatonic scale, but that's used in Japanese and other musics too. And certainly the comparison to John Lee Hooker is bizarre. In this album, Mr. Toure exhibits some serious guitar chops across a wide swath of tempos, rhythms and styles. Most important, his seemingly effortless yet complex guitar playing is employed over beautiful compositions, vocal melodies, percussion and singing. The first track, "Goye Kur" is a tour de force with ringing, fluid chorused guitar, a bright bold vocal chant and melody, rumbling and precise calabash percussion and a haunting njarka line that anchors the whole shebang. Hawa Dolo reminds me weirdly of Ben E. King and the Drifters doing a solemn, yet hopeful prayer song. The solo instrumental, Cinquante Six, has a nice Chet Atkins vibe with its delicate and nimble fingerpicking. Excellent recording, mixing and production top it all off.

This is a unique artist,whose voice is my constant reminder of
God's gifts to human beings.A voice that has the beauty of Africa
locked in it.An inspiring velvet voice with a musicality that gives you vertigo!I have been his fan since donkey years,far back in France. One can never get tired of listening to his music.
This CD is another goody-goody. A "must-have". I Merci infiniment, Sali-fou!T'en as fait encore!

Salif Keita is a god in his own country, we puny Americans really have no musicians to compare with his status, (maybe John Lennon in his heyday). Folon is a great reminder of why hes such a god. On Folon, polyrythyms swim, soar and both permeate and provide a subtle background, guitars call, then respond locking in with eachother with incredible groove savvy smoothness and Keita, now nearing his golden years sounds passionate, intense and downright amazing. Who cares if you don't speak French,the sounds will still move you. And while some may consider the weird american guitar effects and synthesizers selling out, it still sounds strangely beautiful, this is a must have for any music fan who wants their mind blown.

International star, desendant of Kings, this golden throated Malian delivers soul and inspiration. "Falon" is one of my favorite albums of all time, I can listen to it over and over, and have never tired of hearing it. A MUST for any music lover's collection.

Amadou & Mariam have done plenty of great recordings but alas this isn't one of them. What's worse is, I suspect that the shortcomings on SOU NI TILE aren't even their fault. The arrangements here don't suit their music; their songs are best delivered in a spare guitar-and-voice style. I can do without the synthesizers, horn sections and background choruses. Check out their earlier material to get to the true essence of this duo.

A few years ago, someone gave me a compilation CD called From Mali To Memphis. I apparently listed to it once, and took no particular note of it. Then, later on down the line, I went back to it to re-investigate. The first track, Mon Amour, Ma Cherie, by Amadou & Mariam, tore my head off so authoritatively that I played it nine times in a row. And now, Amadou & Mariam are just about my favorite band in the world.


This CD, their first with a full band, is a miracle of great music that transcends traditional style, and marries various forms in ways most all "world music" artists can only dream of.
A flute here, hammond organ there, tabla, violin, trumpet, and influences ranging from Middle-Eastern to James Brown to reggae
make for a unique and exquisite sound. From ballads to
genuine hard rock, it never misses a beat.

In the middle of it all is Amadou Bagayoko. His leathery voice is one of the most commanding ever to be issued from an African recording. His guitar playing, while modest in the solo department, sets up many of the songs with scintillating motifs.
Mariam Doumbia, his soul-mate, also provides vocals that create a soft counter-point to Amadou's gritty singing.

I highly recommend that anyone beg, borrow, or steal a copy of this CD, and discover just how good West African music gets.

We first heard "je pense a toi" in halifax on canadian public radio in 1998 and were completely taken with the haunting melancholic beauty of this couple's music. We love this album, but it's still the first track that lingers in my memory, the simple authenticity of the sentiment, the blend of blues, french, and a distinctly middle eastern intonation. They say that those deprived of one sense are acutely sensitive in the others...

This is a hit-and-miss disc. I asked for and received it for Christmas several years ago and still have yet to fall in love with it. The problem being, at least in my opinion, is that in places it displays too much Western influence. At times it feels like some sort of smooth acoustic instrumental Afro-pop. Whereas fellow Malian musicians such as Ali Farka Toure and Oumou Sangare are able to incorporate a bit of Western influence into their music (such as song forms, etc..) and still sound deeply Malian, Toumani is less successful at this. Whereas Ali Farka Toure, Oumou Sangare, and Afel Bocoum's best work sounds as if it may have crawled up out of the sand of the Sahel, much of this disc sounds as if it were orchestrated in a sterile music studio.

That's not to say this disc is without merit though. Track #7 is excellent and there are other good moments scattered throughout, but overall I feel there are much better albums out there both in terms of kora albums and Malian albums. On the other hand, it's impossible to take anything away from stunning ngoni player, Basekou Kouyate, on this album. Toumani is indeed one of the best kora players on the planet but still I don't feel that he compares favorably to, say, Guinean master Djeli Moussa Diawara. Plus alot of the material here is like I said. Too smooth. But Basekou is excellent throughout. If only he had been consistently allowed to play on tunes as perfect as Tony Vander (track #7).

Yes, yes , yes, Toumani Diabate is an excellent kora player. But for me the reasons to listen to this album over and over again late at night as I write a new essay or story is the music's essentially jazzy nature -- still think jazz originated in America? Listen to this album. And then, of course, there is the extremely subtle vituosity of Keletigui Diabate on the balafon. The man is incredible! I saw him play with Habib Koite in Berkeley. Keletigui(say it real fast and you're probably almost pronouncing it right "KEH-LEH-ti-gwi") not only played incomparably excellent music on the balfon but also played a bit of violin (listen to him on Boubacar Traore's "Macire"). This album would not be nearly as good without his subtle skills on the balafon. Then, of course, there is a Kouyate playing the ngoni and Toumani on the kora...I could go on and on...

This album brings together three traditional Mali instruments; the kora (harp-lute), the balafon, a type of marimba or xylophone and the ngoni--a mandolin-like instrument with a flexible neck. The three virtuosi on this album are the kora master Toumani Diabate, Keletigui Diabete on balafon and Basekou Kouyate on the ngoni.

If you like "New Ancient Strings", something of a hit album in the World Music genre, you will be pleased with this offering. While the mix of instruments does not have the deep, hypnotic rocking style of the dual kora in "New Ancient Strings" the mix of the three traditional instruments is good to listen to. The music has a very traditional sound, yet is tuneful and completely accessible to any listener. The skirling harp riffs are shored up nicely by the "bones" of the balafon's wooden tonking, and the ngoni is fascinating--it's flexible neck produces half-tone notes like an ancient precursor of the bender or "whammy" bar on an electric guitar.

This music dates far, far back to the 13th Century kingdoms of Mali, and even before, when the kora was the hunter-harp. I wonder if King David's shepherd's harp didn't sound like the kora, and if the music to which the Psalms were sung sounded anything at all like this? We can only imagine about this, as music of the ancients is lost to us. But this sound is timeless, and I play my Toumani Diabate CD's over and over. They certainly speak to me and if the kora was the instrument David played to Saul, I can attest that it has tremendous powers to lighten the soul.

Of the three albums of Habib Koite's that I have, this one is my favorite. The percussion is amazing, the guitar work is entrancing, the vocals are enticing .... I would highly recommend this CD to anyone.

Just discovered this band yesterday LIVE on a worldmusic festival in Brussels. I was impressed by his performance and decided to buy his CD right away. You can stand still when hearing this music !

desert dance music ...Mali and hot and sweat ...beauty and joy forever

... though not the highest. Kudos to Nathalie for even taking these daring pieces on- this is some of Mozart's most challenging and stratospheric writing, but while I find Ms. Dessay absolutely sparkling in French repertoire, here she is just little nasal sounding in her Italian. And, this is a singer that can pull a nice, solid high G- and I heard a wicked recording of her doing it live!- but here, the 'Popoli Di Tessaglia' high notes are somewhat strained. Also, her considerable acting chops seem on pause here; I think she is a creature of stage and does not come across as well in the recording studio. Having said that, the long lines of 'Vorrei Spiegarvi' and the coloratura runs in 'No, Che Non Sei Capace' are close to perfect and the whole album is well worth buying if you like high flying Mozart arias, some of which are not even available anywhere else.

Mozart's concert arias are spectacular, gorgeous melodies and Dessay's sweet high soprano is what they need to blossom. She sounds French from start to finish and occasionally yodels a bit but it's charming. The top A also is a scream but she gets the marks for attempting it. Few others have it anyway. On the whole, this is a lovely recital to admire this singer. Play it on a sunny Sunday morning and it'll brighten your day!

This CD of Mozart concert arias is absolutely unbelievably great!! Natalie Dessay's coloratura soprano voice is lovely!!
Her singing of this program is extremely beautiful!! You should get this CD, because if you're a Mozart fan, this recording should be for you!! Try it!!