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Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: I Speak Fula
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba I Speak Fula
Sub Pop!
2010
Much has been made of the symbiosis between traditional Malian and roots North American musics, of which the "desert blues" of guitarist
Ali Farka Toure
guitar1939 - 2006
Kouyate was a collaborator of Toure's, and played an important role in the guitarist's outstanding Savane (World Circuit, 2006). But Ngoni Ba's first album, Segu Blue (Out/Here, 2007), gave little hint of the two-way Atlantic traffic which shapes its follow-up. The debut was, instead, a beautifully crafted archive recording, produced by Kouyate's longtime friend and Malian music scholar, Lucy Duran, which focused on acoustic ritual and social ngoni music, unmediated by overseas echoes or influences.
For two decades, however, Kouyate has been performing with North American roots musicians. The process began in 1990, when Kouyate met the guitarist
Taj Mahal
guitar and vocalsb.1942
Bela Fleck
banjob.1958
All of these experiences come to fruition on I Speak Fula, and then some. The irresistible concoction is a brew of rock'n'roll speed and energy, raw blues and swamp rock licks played by the ngonis (and on two tracks by guest electric guitarist Vieux Farka Toure, Ali's son), complementary fleet-fingered ngoni picking which gives the instrument the flavor and phrasing of a country banjo, and rhythm breaks and stop-time passages, borrowed from American rock and blues, which break up the savannah-belt's typically relentless, rolling beat. At times it sounds like banjo player Earl Scruggs on Flatt & Scruggs' iconic "Rocky Mountain Breakdown," enriched by the electric acid blues of guitarist
Jimi Hendrix
guitar, electric1942 - 1970
The traffic is by no means one-way, and the North American sounds to be heard in I Speak Fula haven't simply been grafted on. They are, instead, emphases of signature sounds within Malian traditional music, spotlighted, as it were, to appeal to a global roots music audience. Kouyate's ngoni and Toure's guitar are almost indistinguishable and both speak an African language readily accessible to non-African audiences. The same goes for Zoumana Tereta's soku (spike fiddle), heard on one track, which is simultaneously deep African and deep southern hoe-down.
Kouyate and guest kamalengoni player Harouna Samake were featured by Béla Fleck on the title track to his marvelous Throw Down Your Heart (Rounder, 2009). I Speak Fula is more of the magical same. It's still only January, but this has to be one of the best African music albums of 2010, and may well prove to be the best.
Tracks: I Speak Fula; Jamana Be Diya; Musow; Torin Torin; Bambuga Blues; Amy; Saro; Ladon; Tineni; Falani; Moustapha.
Personnel: Bassekou Kouyate: solo ngoni, ngoniba; Amy Sacko: lead vocals (1-4, 6-9, 11), chorus; Omar Barou Kouyate: medium ngoni; Fousseyni Kouyate: ngoniba; Moussa Bah: bass ngoni; Alou Coulibaly: calabash, chorus; Moussa Sissoko: yabara, tamani; Kasse Mady Diabate: vocals (2); Vieux Farka Toure: electric guitar (5, 7); Toumani Diabate: kora (2, 9); Harouna Samake: kamalengoni (3, 4); Zoumana Tereta: lead vocal, soku (6); Andra Kouyate: chorus, lead vocals (5); Mah Soumano: chorus; Baba Sissoko: dunun (7); Baba Diabate: dunun (3); Jelimusoba: mpolon (11); Dramane Ze Konate: vocals, mpolon (bonus track).
Tags
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba
African Jazz
Chris May
United States
Ali Farka Toure
Taj Mahal
Bela Fleck
Jimi Hendrix
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