 
For Mory Kante it's too little too late. He should have made this album over fifteen years ago. He was the first to rush off to Paris and become a disco fool, scoring a monster hit with "Yeke Yeke" in the late 1980s. Finally he's taken a clue from Salif Keita, his old bandmate from Super Rail Band days, and returned to a traditional sound. But the world has left him behind. Malian music has evolved beyond where he was at as a youth, and we have Rokia Traore and Issa Bagayogo to thank for it. Malian music quietly joined the modern world so the ancient Manding kingdom with its epics and shimmering kora lines is now truly a historical style, and this is where Mory Kante has gone. The album is well-done, a good mix, clean sound, but it's seriously dated. Kante also plays most of the instruments so I suppose it's a studio creation with him adding the layers without the wit of that affable idiot OutKast in the green satin jockey get-up. This is already being hailed as a masterpiece, nothing short of genius, breathtaking, and (fill in the blank). It's got the heavy big Malian epic sound with all the traditional instruments, like kora, balafon, calabash, koro, calignan, mute calignan, cabassa, bolon and small, medium and large dunduns--all of which Mory plays himself on the opening cut, as well as doing the lead vocals. He plays acoustic guitar, electric bass and djembe on other tracks. If you don't already have a ton of this stuff you probably will enjoy it. Others can just put on LES NUITS DE BAMAKO instead. -- Doctor Rhythm
|
