Music / blues

The rough guide to the music of West Africa


Reviews (2)


PopMatters

d. 6. Oct. 2017

By

By

Adriane Pontecorvo

d. 6. Oct. 2017

"It's important to recognize that by no means does this album represent every country in West Africa or even a contiguous group of nations. It certainly can't represent every musical style in even a single country, but it never dwells too long in one place, and each song has a totally distinct flavor. For an album meant to cover such a broad expanse of land and culture, that's about as good as it gets".


fRoots

2017 December

By

By

Vic Smith

2017 December

"These fifteen tracks (...) confirm the impression that the standard of musicianship is very high and that West Africa is still well endowed with tremendous singers ... If this compilation wre to be compared to one from, let's say, twenty years ago, then the influence of Latin music would seem to be in decline and sophisticated studio sound from Africans now based in Europe is ubiquitous. The electric guitar dominates with screaming sustain-on-max solos sounding more dated than the timeless older instruments with the balafon seeming to feature largely here. Amongst some complex arrangements, the relaxed simplicity of the falsetto of Amadou Diagne singing to acoustic guitar stands out, as does Samba Touré. We still hear the influence of his great teacher and inspiration, Ali Farka Touré, while he continues to develop an individual style".



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