RAIL BAND
BELLE EPOQUE 2: MANSA (Stern's STCD3039-40)

In 2007 Stern's released the first pair of discs in the projected three volume, 6-disc set of vintage Rail Band recordings. This second pair lives up to the magic of the first and adds more gems to the collection. By now we are familiar with the saga, how the young albino singer Salif Keita, though not a griot, took Bamako by storm with this explosive band. At first he refused to perform for even though he was homeless and unable to work as a teacher because of poor eyesight, he was still a noble and it would be beneath him to perform for money. Then there was his lack of skin pigment. Rumour has it he first appeared with a towel over his head. But the band clicked. In 1971 Djelimady Tounkara joined as lead guitarist from National "A" du Mali. After three years a rivalry arose when the new balafonist, Mory Kanté began to be featured more. Kanté was a child prodigy who also had an unusual way with the kora and he would grab the mike to "accompany" Keita but drown him out. Keita left and started Les Ambassadeurs, based in the local motel as opposed to the railway hotel. With Kanté at the forefront the band became more experimental and in 1977 started playing Afrobeat (e.g., "Dugu kamaleba" included here) as well as pop and traditional Malinké and Bambara tunes which they updated. This was a revolutionary move, to incorporate different ethnicities into the band and the repertoire, and the fluid mix of musicians kept the music always fresh and exciting. A few years later Kanté also departed, becoming one of the first griots to go electric, move to Paris and score disco hits. At the same time the bandleader and saxophonist, Tidiane Koné, left for greener pastures and the leadership fell to the brilliant guitarist Djelimady Tounkara, now acknowledged to be one of the finest African guitarists of all time. But after a trip to Togo with Kanté, Djelimady was barred from performing with his old outfit by the railway authorities. He responded by starting a new band, the Trio Mandingue (documented on the Oriki disc 'Allo Bamako) that soon eclipsed the Rail Band so in the end he had to be allowed back in, with his new cohorts by his side. Another shock came when Djelimady fell in love with Congolese rumba & recorded two albums in Lomé that show the influence of Docteur Nico (The fabulous "Konowale" is included here). Devoted fans will be pleased to hear the earlier version of "Mansa" (redone as the haunting title track of their 1995 Indigo album). Mory Kanté's wonderful, dreamy "Balakononifing" is here. Some of the tracks are familiar from out of print albums that were themselves recompilations of singles, put out by Syllart in the 80s. The on-line discography by Graeme Counsel is useful in keeping this straight. These essential Stern's discs provide another broad spectrum of the group, featuring major compositions from each era of the band. The Rail Band still performs when they are in Bamako but mainly they are out touring the world. With their recent masterful anthologies of Balla et ses Balladins, Bembeya Jazz, Mbilia Bel, Tabu Ley Rochereau and others, Stern's is brilliantly filling in the history of modern African popular music. With our support and encouragement, they will continue this great work.

ISSA BAGAYOGO
MALI KOURA (6 Degrees 657036 1151 2 5)

Issa's fourth album (to be released in the US on August 5, 2008), his first album since 2004, is cause to rejoice. He brought Malian traditional music into the modern era with a deft touch of electronica. Yves Wernert is back at the controls but the success of the sound is uniquely Issa. The rhythmic loops are based on his kamale ngoni; what makes it memorable is his brusque half-spoken delivery in a language few people speak. If you thought he could not improve on his solid catalogue of sounds, think again: he now adds jazz horns and organ, reminding me of Cheikh Tidiane Seck and the Mandinkas' collaboration with Hank Jones, a high mark in the history of cross-cultural fusion. I got an advance copy so I can't tell you who the horn players are. West Africa is best known for its guitarists -- from Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Togo -- and outstanding among them is Mama Sissoko, who, in a distinguished career -- beginning with National "A" and Super Biton de Ségou -- made a stellar solo album SOLEIL DE MINUIT and has recently toured with Vieux Farka Touré. He has also played with Issa from the start. The production of this album differs from Issa's previous three efforts. First, no studio was involved. Issa recorded his tracks either outside Wernert's Bamako house or in the kitchen, not in the studio. Ba Diallo, flautist with the National Ensemble of Mali, added flute, and the great djembe player Adama Diarra contributed his licks to keep it real. Then, instead of consulting with Issa on the overdubs, Wernert flew back to his home in Nancy, France, where Gael Le Billan contributed guitar, bass, keyboard and accordion, again in a casual atmosphere without a formal studio. There are sympathetic vibes at work here and of course trust, as both producer and star know what they are aiming for. The result is sublime.

ROUGH GUIDE TO THE MUSIC OF MALI (RGNET1208)

Here's a big juicy slice of the Malian musical feast. While Senegal and Guinée have rich traditions, the music of Mali goes back millennia and many of their most-loved artists have family trees of musicians going back hundreds of years. As testament to the power of this music, although I am a zillion miles, geographically, from Mali, I have seen half of these artists on tour in California. There's a bump in the road early on with a live cut from Mamadou and Mariam, who are blind so they cannot see how white they've become. Their manu-chao produced sound has become like so much other drivelly white rock, worse than that, FRENCH rock. But then the genuine techno beat of Issa Bagayogo wipes away the memory of their lame sampled police sirens, and his ngoni segues into that on the opening of Oumou Sangare and then the njarka introduces Afel Bocoum and we are sailing down the Niger, or wherever our fancy takes us on a hot summer afternoon. There's a brief pause and we are swept away in the ripples of one of my all-time favourite Malian songs, "Kanan Neni," by Rokia Traore, the opening track of her magisterial Wanita album. The very heart of the matter. Malian music, while respecting its traditions, continues to adapt to the modern world and innovators like Bagayogo & Traore (though not of the djali caste: one was a dirt-poor farmer, the other a top diplomat's daughter) are the brightest lights of all Africa at the moment. The familiar cathedral-like chimes of Ali Farka sweep down from his posthumous perch gracing his son's debut. Only one guitarist can top that: Djelimady Tounkara who sweeps in with panache followed by the startling voice of Kandia Kouyate from her Stern's album Biriko. Djelimady must be double-tracked on here, or have a sympathetic accompanist, his finger-picking is astounding in its glittering brightness. The sequencing by Larisa Lassman is great: hats off to her! For variety we hearken back to the jazz-funk of Les Ambassadeurs featuring Salif Keita. A bunch is stuff is crammed in at the end: the great Boubacar Traore on guitar; festival-darlings Tinariwen with an off-kilter droning piece; and then a swinging take on Gershwin's "Summertime" (credited to "Traditional"!!) by Kélétigui on balafon. Very classy, and a lovely capper to this superb set.

ETRAN FINATAWA
DESERT CROSSROADS (Riverboat TUG CD1048)

Timbuctoo used to be the most exotic place on earth, synonymous with the furthest from civilization you could get, but now the desert blues of Mali and Niger pops up everywhere. People you meet casually say they just got back from Mali or are planning a trip. And the A&R people are out there with their state-of-the-art laptop recording studios capturing the music while it's still fresh to our ears. But by now we recognise the instrumentation: the repetitive rub and drub drum patterns, pulsing bass, wailing chorus and bluesy guitar. Etran Finatawa has recorded before and returns with a strong set of original compositions. The group is comprised of people from two different nomadic tribes: the Tourag (the "blue people") and the Wodaabe. Their first album made it to the BBC World Music Awards shortlist in 2006 and they spent a year touring to promote it, and then in July 2007 went into the studio to record the songs they had written on the road about their desire to go back to Niger and their familiar lifestyle among the sun-baked dunes of the Sahara. The instruments are predominantly acoustic with occasional fuzztone guitar snaking in for a bit of grit in the musical egg salad. The songs are about their desire to preserve their culture. A nice slice of the desert zeitgeist.

TOUMAST
ISHUMAR (RealWorld CDRW148)

More desert blues anyone? I know it's bad to compare and contrast as a way to write reviews but whereas Etran Finatawa have a clipped, acoustic blues sound, Toumast go for the electrified beat. "Ishumar" is a corruption of the French word for unemployed which is how the Tourags were viewed in Libya and Algeria when they were in exile from their desert homelands in the 70s and 80s. They didn't want to be part of Mali or Niger so took up arms. Band-leader, composer and guitarist Moussa Ag Keyna was wounded in the liberation struggle and recuperated in Paris where he met Dan Levy, the producer. Levy is all over this production, playing bass, drums, keyboard, sax and about a dozen other things as well as producing, so the album has a very different sound from the gritty Tinariwen or the folky Finatawa. As well as guitar there is djembe, played by Aminatou Goumar. RealWorld classifies it as being from Niger/France and it's about 50/50 desert blues and urban pop.

RAIL BAND
BELLE EPOQUE 1: SOUNDIATA (Sterns 3033-34)

Kids are always being told not to play on the train tracks: but these guys can stop a diesel with their energy! Last year I was craving Rail Band and made a compilation CD of my scattered rare sides. My problem was trying to get it down to one disc, so I had to leave out all but the 15-minute version of "Soundiata." Then I had to squeeze even more when I found a couple of gems buried in the Musique du Mali compilations BANZOUMANA (Melodie 3809901-2) and SIRA MORY (Melodie 38902-2). Now, hot on the heels of the Oriki collection, comes the first double-disc from Stern's in what is projected to be three double discs or 6 hours covering the entire career of the legendary Rail Band. Instead of starting with the first Rail Band album on Barenreiter (BM 30L 2606 1970), Stern's has opted for a different approach, grouping the music by musical affinity: so in this first set we hear three very different versions of the epic "Soundiata," about the 13th-century Malinké warrior king. The album opens with the half-hour version sung by Mory Kanté and contrasts it with the fifteen-minute version sung by Sundjata's descendant Salif Keita. This "battle of the stars" idea was used on the Syllart issue of the album RAIL BAND (SYL 8357 ca 1990). The second disc features a later take by Salif and we also hear from the third, less-well-known, singer Magan Ganessy. The liner notes give a clearer account of the band, the personnel and the politics than we have known thus far. We learn of the personality clash between the shy singer Keita and the brash young balafonist Mory Kanté who would oust Keita. Makan Ganessy was hired to sing the Bambara repertoire as there was a demand for many regional styles when the band toured. For me the voices are sublime but it's the sax and guitar that put this band over the top. Sadly Tidiane Kone left in 1976 to try his luck in Benin. He is one of the greatest jazz saxmen from Africa. As high as people rank Essous, Momo Wandel and Manu Dibango, I think Koné is on another level. Coupled with the propelling beat of the rhythm section and the brilliant guitarwork of Djelimady, this band is unstoppable. There are two version of "Armée Malienne," one of which I had never heard before. There's a wide range of music on here, and if you don't know it, you will soon discover why this is hailed as the best of the Malian big bands. From the moody "Duga" to the wiry "Mali Cebalenw" (which sounds like it really coming over the tannoy in a big empty train station!) to the blisstonic "Mali tebaga mogoma," relax for the trip, let the band stretch out, and look forward to the rest of this scintillating set.

DJELIMADY TOUNKARA & L'ORCHESTRE SUPER RAIL BAND INTERNATIONAL
'ALLO BAMAKO (Oriki SLCD134)

Of all African music, Malian is the only one consistently hitting on all four cylinders and you know my passion for African music of the 70s and 80s, so this can't fail. Frontman Djelimady Tounkara plays guitar like a kora, with lots of twists and turns, complex runs, and massive technique. Rail Band was fronted by Mory Kanté, who took over from Salif Keita in 1972 and was replaced in 1977 by Makan Guessy. Cheikh Tidiane Seck plays piano and organ and you can hear adumbrations of some of his later desert blues collaborations on here. Band-leader Tidiani Koné was a superb saxophonist, but left to join PolyRythmo de Cotonou and was replaced for a while by the great Dexter Johnson with his smooth jazz sound. In 1979 the band toured Ivory Coast. Abidjan was the happening scene in West Africa with high cocoa prices & many migrant workers wanting a good night out. As Paris had not yet developed for expatriate African musicians, there was a thriving recording scene in Abidjan where Sam Mangwana had made a famous stand with his African All Stars. Aboudou Lassissi recorded many of the touring bands for the Sacodis label and half the tracks here made up the AFFAIR SOCIAL LP he issued.

The other four cuts were recorded in Togo by a smaller version of the band, fronted by Djelimady and called Le Trio Manding du Mali, but despite the austerity of the name there are elements of disco and funk in the mix. Plus there's the jazz Hammond organ, now played by Ernest Honny, a Ghanaian. (And to my ears the whole band is there backing them.) The disc opens with the trio's slow smoky take on "Marigoundo," another version of "Madi guindo," heard on the Syllart compilation SIRA MORY. With Dexter Johnson, presumably, on these cuts too, it's a pan-African jazz sound, unusual for the Rail Band. On them the organ is the lead instrument, with the guitar embellishing the chords. This is an exceptional set, wonderfully restored to great fidelity, and shows the broad range of one of African's finest musical dynasties.

MUSIQUES METISSES
LE MANDINGUE EMPIRE DE LA MUSIQUE (Marabi 46821.2)

If you can't get to all the great concerts & summer music festivals you can listen to the live album and imagine you are there. The plus side is there's no mud, sunburn, queues for toilets, idiots yelling into cellphones, etc. The minus side is no matter how good the live album is you don't get the full effect of being there in the moment (when it's great you forget all those aforementioned problems). I was excited about Musiques Métisses, the festival in Angoulème, because the line-up is stellar: the cream of Malian music, no less. Last year the festival produced the fabulous Malouma album which came out earlier this year. But I was disappointed when this turned out to be a sampler drawn from the studio albums of the participants. I have all this. It's too bad: I suppose they figured it would be better to have a product to sell to the fans at the event, rather than go to the trouble of licensing everything and doing a live album. If you remember the Heimatkläng albums from Germany, they set the standard not only for live albums but for expectations from festivals as well. You can't help be sorry this is not a live album. Rokia Traore is still the best live act I have seen from Africa in the last decade, but she has not done a live album, and her studio albums are very inconsistent.

There's no doubt Malian music endures. Yes, Senegal and Mauretania have wonderful musical heritages also, but the heart of the Manding empire has given us Rail Band and its progeny: Salif Keita, Mory Kanté and Djelimady Tounkara. Mali boasts Bembeya Jazz and its guitarist Sékou Diabaté, as well as brilliant solo artists like Oumou Sangaré, Rokia Traoré, Ali Farka Touré, Boubacar Traoré, or groups like Ba Cissoko and Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra. They are all on here, and they have all been reviewed on this website. Yes, it's a great album, lots of stuff you know and probably have, largely drawn from Marabi's own catalogue. There are great traditional tracks, like Nahawa Doumbia's smoking "Sogodounou," and a few that move more to the present, like Amadou & Mariam's "Dounia," but the balance is perfect: All of it wonderful, relaxing, and dreamy, like sipping a glass of prosecco in a bubble-bath. So give us the live album, Marabi!

VIEUX FARKA TOURE
VIEUX FARKA TOURE (Modiba/World Village 468065)

Music history is littered with the offspring of famous people who tried to carve their own musical career. They may have a novelty appeal (like the Lennon or Marley kids) or even a hit (Nancy Sinatra) but for the most part we think, How sad, and their dad was so talented. Vieux Farka Toure is hamstrung by a name which suggests he is the elder here, but you get an an immediate sense that this is different. His album starts confidently in mid-stride and you know here is a serious contender for his late father's still-warm mantle. Though it is his debut album, there is a relaxed sense of accomplishment: the arrangements are full, the sidemen (some of whom backed his dad) well chosen, and there's the bittersweet element as Ali Farka makes a guest appearance as his swansong. Ali Farka, in fact, didn't want his son to be a musician, knowing full well the years of struggle and hardship that entails. This is traditional Malian music, mess less rooted in delta blues (as his father's was) with njarka (spike fiddle) and calabash percussion. The cathedral-like chimes of Ali's guitar float majestically into the opening of the third cut, "Tabara," with a sacramental tone, but Bassakou Kouyaté's ngoni ruptures the ascending cloud and brings us back to earth with some gutsy skirling. It's a mood more than a tune and drifts off aethereally to make way for a reggae groove that is unoriginal yet accomplished. (I've always been intrigued that African reggae seems stuck on Peter Tosh, not only as opposed to Marley, but as opposed to the musical evolution of reggae in the last two decades.) Mamadou Fofana is double-tracked on bass and that wild Peul flute on the next song, sung by Sekou Touré. Abruptly we gear down for a duet between Vieux and Toumani Diabaté, the virtuoso kora player, on a traditional piece about the last king of the Manding empire, Samory Touré. It's a beautifully done trancelike give-and-take & makes you eager for a whole album of the pair. But there's so much more to hear. Ali Farka pops back from beyond with his rocking "Baby please don't go" guitar lead on "Diallo." Again we are grounded in the savannah by the rocking ngoni contributed by Bassekou Kouyaté. Toumani Diabaté returns for another duet to close the album. All in all a superb production worthy all the superlatives being bandied about it.

TINARIWEN
AMAN IMAN ("Water is life") (World Village 468067)

The darlings of the desert are back with their gritty blues, which is more Malian Grateful Dead to Ali Farka's John Lee Hooker. The band, who are Tamashek Touaregs, lived in exile in desert camps for years during the rebellion which displaced them from their homeland. They were discovered by the wider world three years ago at the Festival in the Desert and since then have toured the world to acclaim. This is their third album but still has the rough edge that endeared them to the foreigners who first heard them in the Sahara dunes under the moon in 2000. With half a dozen guitars all contributing to the sound they tend to jam on one chord and go into flights of improvised fantasy, some of them just relishing the sound of hammering on and pulling off the fretboard of their electric Gibsons. The ten or so singers clap their hands and find a chorus that goes with the groove. It's an instant trip to the remotest part of the globe, with mint tea and kif to help us on the imaginary journey, instead of the canned soda and dry crackers of more tangible airlines.

MAMADOU DIABATE
HERITAGE World Village 468064)

If traditional Malian Mandé music is your thing to stay warm on chill winter nights, then you will bask in the latest (third) recording from Mamadou Diabaté, HERITAGE. He was one of the founders, with Papa Kouyaté, of the Mamadous and the Papadous. Surely you remember their hit "Bamako dreamin'"? (--I'm just kidding.) Guinean guitar wizard Djikorya Mory Kante is on the session. However his acoustic guitar is low in the mix, giving way for leader's occasional pyrotechnics on the kora. The overall effect is of intimate chamber music. There's calabash percussion, superb balafon from Balla Kouyaté, and a jazzy acoustic bass. Mamadou moved to the US a few years ago so he is probably thinking about warmer climes himself right now. His broader horizon means he has played with Roswell Rudd, Randy Weston and Taj Mahal, but it's the musicians on this album that he has been touring with and it shows. It's tight and polished and a fine move for the talented 21-string kora player, ready to step into the shoes of his dad who played kora with the Instrumental Ensemble du Mali or his more-famous cousin and mentor, Toumani Diabaté.

TARTIT
ABACABOK (Crammed disc CRAW34P)

Traditional Tuareg music comes from a place far more remote than the Timbouctou of Ali Farka Toure's blues. It's full of mirages and the loping gait of riding a camel up and down endless sand dunes. This disc is a fine sequel to the Tartit album on Network, ICHICHILA, from 2000. It is very different from the familiar Malian music, being more trancelike with long cyclical songs with intermeshing loops of refrain, instrumental riffing and the occasional ululation over a base of irregular hand-claps. These desert griots are almost outcasts in Malian society as a nomadic minority, and they have suffered deprivation through drought, lack of social opportunity & even ethnic cleansing. They are unique in Africa in that the men are veiled while the women are not, and the women can divorce their husbands. Tartit consists of five women and four men: the women sing and provide percussion on tindé instruments while the men add the stringed accompaniment, both acoustic and electric guitars, guimbri and electric bass (I am not sure as I got an advanced copy without credits). As winter moves closer it's nice to wander out into the Sahara for a marrow-warming hour of contemplation.

WEST AFRICA UNWIRED (RGNET1169CD)

I heard through the Motown grapevine that the powers-what-be at Rough Guide didn't like my snotty remarks about their West African Gold compilation. (Someone at another label demurred, saying a critical review on Muzikifan was worth any amount of pablum from ****** [name of slack world music journal omitted].) And what decent publisher in any medium can't accept criticism? I could ignore the Rough Guide CDs but I do take them seriously and if you look through my site you will find lots of prominent reviews of their work, often as the sole representative of a compilation in one genre. Still, when they launched their latest venture TH!NK GLOBAL my first response was "What? Now they've become Putumayo?" This crack also didn't sit well with them. As I've said there are too few compilations and they all feature the same damn tracks. The new Th!nk Global series looks like Putumayo with a rather lame cartoony cover (still not as dire as the feeble work of Nicola Heindl, but why should she worry? Her Putumayo art has reputedly bought her a rural spread of which we can only fume enviously. Undoubtedly Putumayo's Dan Storper has done customer research to convince him that the cartoon identity is a good selling point). However, despite the breathless earnestness of this latest offering (A notice on the back says, in humble typewriter, "End poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment" -- as if buying a CD could make it happen) I must say WEST AFRICA UNWIRED is a great compilation. Mali is musically one of the richest countries in Africa, with Guinea and Senegal right on its heels. This compilation of acoustic music starts with a brilliant event: the first teaming of Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck. Recently I saw them in concert and it was just raucous shtick for the white folks, but DJAM LEELII (first issued on Rogue Records in 1898) is a feuilleton-esque connubium, that is to say a melding of fine-meshed talents, honed to jewel-like perfection.

I am not going to say that all this music is generally available (because it is), but the point is as a sampler, or even a case of letting someone else programme your record collection, it is excellent. From the plangent kora of Toumani Diabate we are swept up in the woody balafon and bright steel-strings of Kante Manfila. Daby Balde's catchy "Kaye waxma" with its choral refrain in bad Italian, is another chunk of fine filigree-work with its dueling guitars and violin. Four of the tracks are taken from recent Rough Guide or Riverboat albums (both are also on the World Music Network label) while two are from PAM and two from STERNS: these are the labels mainly concerned with promoting West African traditional music in Europe, besides Cobalt and BUDA. My currently favourite male Malian singer Issa Bagayogo appears (from Wrasserecords, licensed in the USA by Sixdegrees) but Rokia Traore doesn't. (She has a concert video out but it is damned expensive.) I don't like the Bob Brozman collaboration with Djeli Moussa Diawara, it sounds like Roy Smeck (the Vaudevillian) but it's nice to hear some Extra Dry Guitar from Papa Diabate right after it. We dip into Niger for the washing-machine thud & drub of Etran Finatawa and their blend of nomadic musics before coasting out with Boubacar Traore. Swinging, as it does, from traditional to more pop and danceable tracks, this compilation makes fine listening.

ALI FARKA TOURE
SAVANE (World Circuit/Nonesuch 79965-2)

Ali Farka Toure's final recordings are lovingly presented here by World Circuit. The sound is great, the booklet exceptional (with photos & lyrics in translation) -- even the cover has thoughtful design (apart from a little obligatory "grunge" factor in the typography) and reminds me of 1950s LP packaging. In addition to a large ensemble including Mama Sissoko and Bassekou Kouyate on dueling ngonis, there's the haunting sax of Pee Wee Ellis on "Beto," and "N'jarou." Harmonica, violin and flute on other tracks add variety. In fact this is really well sequenced because it sounds like several different groups and comes across more as a tour of the savannah than the work of one artist. All his protestations to the contrary, Touré's guitar does recall Mississippi delta blues. There are echoes of Fred MacDowell made exotic by the kora fills sprinkled throughout. On "Ledi Coumbe," Little George Sueref's harmonica also forcibly suggests the American deep south. Though everyone has their favourite Ali Farka Touré album, I think this is perhaps his finest work and a great monument to the Malian giant, who died in summer 2006.

TOUMANI DIABATE'S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA
BOULEVARD DE L'INDEPENDANCE (World Circuit/Nonesuch 79953-2)

Malian music is the only consistently great stuff lately, and here is a real gem. Toumani Diabaté is a well-known kora player. He started out backing Kandia Kouyaté (you can hear them on the lead track on the Mali Divas compilation on World Network), then formed a traditional trio with ngoni and balafon, but since his first solo album, KAIRA, he has collaborated with flamenco artists, pop, blues and Hindi musicians. He has endeavored to make traditional West African griot music vibrant and contemporary, not just to sell records to his Western fan base but to keep Malian youth attuned to their own heritage. His Symmetric Orchestra is a big band that is a big attraction in Bamako -- the presence of the legendary Rail Band notwithstanding. They have a gig every friday night at the Hogan, an outdoor club, and have been there for ten years while the Rail Band has been jetting around the globe. Their concerts last for hours and are open-house for any visiting musicians so end up being a public rehearsal. There's kora, ngoni, balafon and traditional percussion like sabar and djembe at one end of the musical spectrum, and the electric guitars and drumkit of the modernized bands at the other, and it all flows perfectly. Diabaté is staking his claim to all West African music as a statement of the pan-African reach of the Manding culture, which was the biggest kingdom in West Africa in the 13th century. For this album, Nick Gold has brought in the master Pee Wee Ellis, who has been a crucial part of so many great West African albums with his soulful or funky horn arrangements. It's traditional stuff: the title cut was the first recording of Djelimady Tounkara of Rail Band fame, but it has all been updated. Kasse Mady does guest vocals on "Ya fama" which has the big Malian sound associated with Salif Keita. "Mali sadio," a lament for a beloved hippo shot by white hunters, is a dirge with a "We will rock you" bass and hand-claps beat with flashy kora fills from Diabaté. There's even a salsa-mbalax number (shades of Africando) but it keeps the programme interesting and diverse.

SALIF KEITA
M'BEMBA (DECCA B0006740-02)

Salif Keita's last album MOUFFOU was a new departure in one respect and a return to his roots in another. In this latest outing he also retrenches somewhat. He has gone back to the sound of his 1987 breakthrough album SORO and re-assessed his position. Gone are the synths and rock guitar that have marred his tours for the last two decades. He has a solid line-up of three acoustic guitars, kamele n'goni, djembe, electric bass and percussion. His old buddy Kante Manfila is aboard on acoustic guitar, and Salif is in strong voice. The overall impression is mellow yet half-way through he kicks things up a notch and the two middle tracks "Kamoukie" and "Yambo" have the energy of a live concert and would work well on the dancefloor. Guests Toumani Diabaté on kora, Lansana Diabaté on balafon, and Mama Sissoko on n'goni add richness to the sound of the title cut "M'bemba." Buju Banton shows up (I thought it was a found Bob Marley tape) & there's a gratuitous disco remix of one song with electric guitar, synth, etc, but don't let that put you off.

MIDNIGHT IN MALI (Sterns STCD1102)

A one-off concert, held at the French Cultural Center in Bamako at Christmas 2004, brought together many top-rank Malian musicians who jammed in various combinations all night. This disc is a record of that evening. Yves Wernert was twiddling the knobs to make sure it all sounded right. Among the big guns are Djélimady Tounkara, the extraordinary guitarist, and right at the outset he is trading licks with Madina Ndaye on kora. Living legend Kélétigui Diabaté was playing balafon and Habib Koité also played guitar. Djélimady's work is easily identified though & you can hear him pushing the other musicians to try things they probably wouldn't normally do, like playing behind the bridge & detuning which gets a bit tired, though the audience seems to eat it up. There's the late Vieux Kanté on kamalen n'goni and virtuoso youngster Basékou Kouyaté on plain ngoni. There are several vocalists, djembe and percussion players, and Alou Dembélé plays bass (a web search brings up a Camerounian soccer player of that name!). Samba Sissoko (from Djélimady's acoustic group and the Rail Band) sings, along with a couple of noted female vocalists and Djélimady's daughter on backing, but there's none of the Cobalt crew normally found in Wernert's studio. After the blisteringly great opener it gets folksy for a spell but during "Farafina (Cradle of humanity)," Djélimady pops in for another of his smoking extended solos. The kora on this is played by Madina Ndaye, a blind woman singer, quite unique in contemporary Malian music. Habib steps up for the bluesy "Forobana," but is quietly upstaged by Samba Sissoko with the 13-minute "Souaressi." It's a simple 1-4-5 pattern and comes off like one of the old Mande epics we love from the classic repertoire. Kélétigui keeps it all together and seems to be driving from the back seat, pushing the set along with his occasionally Mexican-marimba sound (I guess he's well-traveled). This concert united diverse styles of Malian music that cut across cultural divides and shows the rest of us how to get along. Diénéba Seck delivers "Signana," the crowning glory of the set, and everyone throws their best pentatonic riff at it, even the one-string horsehair-fiddle player, Zoumana Téréta. For the coda, Keletigui picks up his violin and Habib plays finger-picked acoustic guitar. I leaped up and grabbed the booklet, thinking it was Fairport Convention!

ETRAN FINATAWA
INTRODUCING ETRAN FINATAWA (World Network Intro105CD)

Fans of Tinariwen will snap this up. It's more of that droning insistent nomad jamming. There's the washing-machine thud of a big drum, hand claps, the occasional reedy gasba and some jangling guitar. I predict this will spark a new wave of hippie youth going off to ride the Marrakesh Express to the sandy wastes of West Africa. It is traditional music but the electric guitars give it a contemporary spark that makes its appeal international. The band comes from Niger and is comprised of four Tuareg and six Wodaabe musicians. (The Wodaabe are the ones who paint their faces.) The mix is good because the result is more flavourful than the generic Tuareg music. Many of the songs are grounded in nature and talk about sand dunes and camel races, but of course there's also the lovely young girl they call to come and dance. They also talk about trying to reconcile their nomadic lifestyle with the strictures of Islam when they sing about Anadjibo the herdsman who is trying to pray at the same time his cattle are running away.

DJELIMADY TOUNKARA
SOLON KONO (Marabi 46810.2 Harmonia Mundi)

You may be thinking, Hmmm, another Malian acoustic guitar album, but if you have heard Djelimady play solo acoustic guitar you know he is ace. Best known as the driving force behind the Super Rail Band de Bamako, Tounkara is unquestionably one of the most versatile guitarists living. If you read my interview with Djelimady on the MALI LIVE page you will see he is influenced by flamenco, and that's apparent from the opening cut, a virtuoso piece of Spanish-style playing. This album is mellow yet bristles with energy. There are even two electric tracks for the Rail Band fans who need a shot of that endless line of burning steel running through the sands. One of them, "Sarankégni," is a reworking of a very early Rail Band hit when Mory Kanté was the singer. It's delivered in a beautifully reconsidered rendering sung by his youngest daughter Mariam Tounkara. Recorded in Bamako's Studio Bogolan where the redoubtable Yves Wernert runs the board, Djelimady is backed by family members and a new band of fresh recruits to the Malian trad music scene. The djembe and doundoun are undermiked, to keep the guitar forward in the mix, and the singers on top. Young Mountaga Diabaté from the Rail Band is the featured singer. SOLON KONO is the perfect demonstration of traditional music in a modern context.

LOBI TRAORE
THE LOBI TRAORE GROUP (Honest Jons HJRCD13)

I thought Lobi Traoré was one of the older generation of Malian acoustic guitarists starting to mellow, but he hits the ground electrified and running in this outing and doesn't stop till you are exhausted. True, he has to contend with Mama Sissoko, Sekou "Bembeya" Diabaté and Djelimadi Tounkara to be fastest guitar in the West, but he leaves no doubt he is a contender. The liner notes of this handsome package are succinct: "Recorded October 2002, outdoors in Bamako City. Continuous takes, no overdubbing." That says it all. There's Lobi on electric guitar and vocals, two bass players (I guess the first one wore out), balafon, traps and djembe. It is a smoker. I am trying to think of other Malian bands that have a power trio line up like this, mixing in traditional instruments with Western rock and blues guitar. You can hear the balafon clearly and it is not just hammering a continuo, Modibo Kouyaté solos like a dervish and takes the lead while Lobi chords and does some wild experimenting. In fact he is great at holding down some trance-inducing riff to let the balafon solo and then break into an inspired lead, equal parts Jeff Beck, Ali Farka, Sonny Boy Williamson, and sorcery. Meanwhile the djembe player, Boubacar Sissoko, is no slouch. That doesn't leave much for the drummer who works his foot pedals keeping up a hissing high-hat and bass drum bomp to ground the rhythm while Lobi takes flight. IJ has already accorded this "African album of the year" status. I've heard this album compared to Captain Beefheart and Buddy Guy! Hats off to Lobi.

SALIF KEITA & KANTE MANFILA
THE LOST ALBUM (Syllart 079.0003.026)

Sylla strikes again. Salif Keita changed the course of African music with his album SORO, released by Island in 1987. Before that he had gained a considerable reputation as the singer of Les Ambassadeurs but he ascended to the pantheon of great solo artists with the release of SORO. It combined his traditional melodies with a high-tech production unlike anything heard before from Africa and, as a result, African musicians flocked to the Paris studios to replicate the sound. Ultimately it became a disaster and we had more than a decade of samey albums ruined with synthesizer washes and le programmation terrible. Recently African artists have increasingly gone back to their roots, unplugged their instruments and rediscovered their traditions. A younger generation of Malian artists, notably Issa Bagayogo and Rokia Traore, have found a new direction out of the bush with the help of studio skills and found a progressive route that is not so culturally hidebound by French disco. Salif reached the nadir when he did an album of covers of French pop songs (I assume it was a nadir, I never listened to it) but then turned around and recorded MOFFOU which showed he had not lost it after all. But now we get a rediscovered historic album that shows him steeped in folklore, soon after the initial electric impulses of Les Ambassadeurs. He and bandleader Kante Manfila (who came from Guinea) spent the end of the 70s in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, which at the time was the nexus of creativity in African pop, hosting many of the emerging Congolese bands such as Sam Mangwana's African All Stars and Empire Bakuba. Surprisingly Manfila and Keita decided to record an acoustic album then, and in 1980 laid down 5 tracks which have resurfaced now thanks to King Midas (Ibrahim Sylla of Syllart records). The liner notes tell you nothing about the session or personnel, just that Salif had a lonely childhood, being an albino, wasn't supposed to be a singer as he was from a noble cast, and couldn't get a job as a teacher, which is when he joined the Rail Band in the late 60s. THE LOST ALBUM has balafon and kora on it, as well as acoustic guitar (played by Kante Manfila). Looking at some other albums recorded by Manfila I would guess that the kora player is Mory Kante and the balafonist Ibrahim Diawara. Ousmane Kouyate could be on second guitar, there is even a piano. There's a wandering muted trumpet that floats in and out, occasionally going off key in a wonderous manner. And some uncredited female backup singers. Salif's impassioned voice soars over the arrangements. It's a strong recording. The only odd part is they tacked on WARA, an electric rocker, to end. No complaints, it just changes the mood. All in all, this is essential Malian music.

LOBI TRAORE
MALI BLUE (World Village 468033)

Lobi Traoré is an unsung hero of Malian guitar. Unjustly so, as he is every bit as good as Ali Farka Touré and sounds even better on this well-constructed album that has been assembled from his last few releases. Lately every single Ali Farka track has reappeared in some form or another and it's getting pretty monotonous. Tinariwen has that Creedence Clearwater rumble going to make them vital, but Lobi still wakes you up with his version of the Desert Blues. The presence of Yves Wernert, super-producer of the Issa Bagayogo albums, lends a lot to several tracks. Ali Farka sits behind the board and twiddles while Lobi burns. (Actually he plays matchbox on one track! No lie.) There's a big dose of rock and roll but things cool on the fifth track which, with its ngoni lead and female chorus, sounds a lot like the great Issa Bagayogo albums. A couple of French rockers show up with jazz guitar in mind and change the whole sound for "Ni tougou la mogo miko" (Don't touch me tomato?) Zani Diabaté sits in on djembe on this slow smoker. Much is made of the blues roots heard in Malian music (you get it here on "Wolodennu"), but this is more of a rock album, with lots of crunching guitar, wah wah, harmonica, drums and bass, but there's also enough of the genuine Malian soundscape to make it compelling.

MORY KANTE
SABOU (World Network TUGCD 1034)

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 should just spin LES NUITS DE BAMAKO instead.

ISSA BAGAYOGO
TASSOUMAKAN (Mali K7; in USA: Six Degrees 657036 1103-2)

When Issa Bagayogo burst on the scene in 1999 it was a fresh start for techno music. Instead of Paris synthesizers and relentless soukous drum programming, we had an intelligent approach to sound. The traditional instruments, like kamélé ngoni and flute were foregrounded. The studio atmospherics came in subtly in layers and were very much behind the singer instead of dominating the sound. This is due to Yves Wernert in Bamako who returns to produce a third album by Issa. Wernert plays bass and keyboards and does the programming but keeps it gentle and tasteful. Primarly, there's a metal scraper, rather than a TR-707 drum box set to 188 bpm. Another key to the sound is the floating female chorus in the background. At first you might think Issa hasn't progressed beyond his previous two albums, but once he gets in the swing, you are on cloud nine with those heavenly voices & wispy synth strings. The great Mama Sissoko gets room to swing on his electric guitar without turning it into a rock outing. Olivier Kaba takes over keyboards and programming on two cuts and this makes an interesting contrast to Wernert's efforts: his electric piano on "Djigui" is excellent. He is also backed by Adama Traore (another Mali K7 artist, ex-Balazan de Ségou) on Yalomba (I think this is an 8-stringed gourd resonator instrument). Tassoumakan is a solid continuation of Issa's first two albums and doesn't push towards a global sound (that screwed up Rokia Traore's last outing). Carefully crafted over the last year, the album shows strength and maturity and, above all, that Issa has retained his magic. This goes to the top of the playlist for the summer.

TINARIWEN
AMASSAKOUL (Wrasse Records WRASS 125)

One of the outstanding tracks from the FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT compilation was by Tinariwen. You feel instantly at home in their down-home blues groove. Their name means "Empty places" and they were formed by exiled Touareg in Ghadaffi's rebel camps in Libya. ("Touareg" is an arabic word meaning "Abandoned by the gods"; Ghadaffi is a character drawn by Carl Barks in a Walt Disney cartoon...) They left their fiddles behind in the southern Sahara sands, and took up guitars. Stratocaster knock-offs and tiny Pignose amps. Their songs of exile and dreams of independence caused their cassettes to be banned in Algeria and Mali -- a sure sign of success. By the mid-90s they were allowed to return to their homes in Eastern Mali and perform publicly. Now they are heroes. Their music combines traditional Malian flute, derbouka and singing with rock and roll guitar. There's a lot of Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and even, I imagine, Ted Nugent (That's a hypothetical statement since I don't actually know Ted Nugent's oeuvre, but there's a lot of flurried string-hammering on one cut). However the bits I enjoy are the more spaced-out ones with flute and drone. The hand of Yves Wernert is apparent here as he mixed about half the tracks. This is only available in the US as an import, but is well worth seeking out.

ROKIA TRAORE
MOUNEISSA (Label Bleu/Indigo)

From beginning to end this is a truly superb album and signals a great future for the gifted songwriter who was the "Discovery of the Year" for Radio France International in 1998 upon her debut with this album. Rokia Traoré made such a huge impact with her second album WANITA that Label Bleu/Indigo France reissued her debut album. MOUNEISSA overflows with her lovely voice, delicate songs and the unique mix of ngoni and balafon (with bass guitar and ticking percussion). The trance-like rhythms of her childhood home in Upper Volta lend themselves to her slightly mournful intensity. This album makes a nice contrast to the more urban sound of Issa Bagayogo and Mamou Sidibé that show the techno side of modern Malian music. It's hard to think of things to say about this music, though I play it frequently. It creates a mood that doesn't resolve readily into prose. I suppose I should cop an idea from the Berkeley wine merchant who, to sell his wine, provides prose poems that say a lot without really mentioning the taste of the wine. Yes, occasionally he runs down the old platitudes: "Fruity, structure a-plenty. The body is earthy, organic..." But then suddenly you read: "A taste of harsh mountain air, of a freshly bathed peasant girl who rode a donkey down that Corsican mountain trail... the fingers of the amorous... the breasts of a hearty woman bent over to milk her goat." Hmm? Well, let me just say about Rokia Traoré's album, I think of rumpled bedding in the afternoon, the dark silhouette of a slim girl, her black tangled hair the forest at night, her buttocks raised towards me as I reach under her warm belly to caress her berrylike nipples, mingle with her earthy organic aroma..."

[N.B. Disclaimer: this is not a personal reference to fantasies about Ms Traoré, nor is it intended to be a racist characterization, as one reader suggested. Just believe me, I know the party involved.]

ROKIA TRAORE
WANITA (Indigo)

Malian music has such timelessness and staying power that from the opening notes of WANITA you know you are in for a great musical odyssey with Ms Traoré. Though it's traditional Malian music, WANITA struck me as the finest new release from Africa in 2000. It's folksy -- that is if you play it at such a low level you can't hear the lyrics you might think it was Fairport Convention! But bring it up into earshot and you start to hear the pentatonic marimba, the slap of the gourd, the sussuration of the rattles.

A handsome booklet (that is too big for the slipcase) comes with the CD, replete with color photos and translations of all the Bamanan lyrics into French. Although WANITA is only Traoré's second album, it shows a mature approach to the music. The only electric instrument is bass, otherwise her melancholy is surrounded by traditional Malian instruments: balaba (balafon), n'goni, karignan, gaïta, djembé, and female chorus. There are guest appearances from kora player Toumani Diabaté and guitarist Boubakar Traoré. The harmonies are flawless and the whole album emanates the warm dreaminess of the Sahel at dusk.

ROKIA TRAORE
BOWMBOÏ (INDIGO LBLC 2954)

I finally plopped down serious money for the import version of Rokia's third album, only to be really disappointed. The producers clearly didn't take into account her electrifying performances. This should have been a live album to bring her excitement home to listeners; instead it's another mellow album, much like the first two, but this time has completely egregious string quartets added to really put you off. The western classical tuning does not enhance her voice the way Malian instruments do. Kronos Quartet are decidedly passé (not that they were ever particularly good) and this was a bad move on the part of her management. She doesn't need to be propped up by bogus appurtenances of Western culture: she has plenty of her own high class to spare. There's mellowness aplenty and most of it is enjoyable, though it doesn't come up to the first album's plateau. The highlights of this album are "Déli," a simple almost acapella number (which she did in concert last year) with the basslike bolon accompaniment, and "Mariama," a duet with Ousmane Sacko. "Nienafing" is the liveliest track, with the dueling ngonis that blew us away in concert, but it still seems understated. Yves Wernert appears as "assistant" on the Bamako recordings. Oh, would that he were given control of the knobs. Fire your producer, Rokia, and take it from the top.

BOUBACAR TRAORÉ
BOUBACAR TRAORÉ [KAR KAR] (Indigo)

Boubacar Traoré brought his Malian blues to Ashkenaz in Berkeley on September 20th 2000 and wowed the crowd with his guitar virtuosity. For accompaniment he had a solitary calabash player, but Traoré mixed it up, changing tempo and hitting "power chords" to excite the crowd. Though a comparison to Ali Farka Touré is inevitable, Traoré holds his own. His style is notably different from Touré's, and while his singing is rough, his playing is inspired and complex. He throws in flamenco-style strumming and dramatic runs, soloing and chording at the same time. It was a great show and many of the folks I talked to wondered why he hasn't done a live album. In fact his latest album is so mellow it kind of drifts by.

But short of seeing him live, the self-titled album is a well-recorded selection of his material. This is his third album since his return after a twenty-year hiatus in his career. On it he is joined by Habib Koité, his young protégé on guitar, Sidiki Camara on djembe, and one of the legends of west African popular music: the great Kélétigui Diabaté on balaphone and violin. Though it's a dreamy album, BOUBACAR TRAORE [KAR KAR] is perfect late-night listening. "The Madison" was a popular dance in the sixties, like the twist (I had the 45; I think it was by Joe Loss!). Kar Kar's version of it, featuring blues harp and balaphone, was previously included on an e.p. that was packaged with Malick Sidibé's wonderful photos of Mali in the sixties. It provides a rocking conclusion to the new album.

BOUBACAR TRAORE
JE CHANTERAI POUR TOI (Marabi France, distributed by Melodie)

This is a mellow acoustic album, but does beg the question, How many Malian guitar albums does one need? Ali Farka Touré, Ballaké Sissoko and even Rokia Traore, show up to add their talents. I imagine the film will make it more compelling, but will it ever play in the US? Taken on its own the album is worth hearing: the spontaneity is what makes it appealing. The songs seem unrehearsed, there are snippets of background noise, traffic, playing children, a bird. I've played it a few times and it does tend to fade into the background. At one point Boubacar was doing a duet with Kélétigui Diabaté (The "Lionel Hampton of balafon" as Malians call him) and I had completely spaced out, reading a magazine, and in my subconscious I thought I was listen to Balinese music! As a bonus the album ends with two of KarKar's biggest hits from 1963: "Mali Twist," and "Kayes Ba," which, like the opening track "Mouso teke soma ye," were included on an mini-CD tucked into copies of Malick Sidibé's monograph of Malian portrait photos from Scalo.

SALIF KEITA
FOLON ... THE PAST (Island 162-531 022-2 1995)

In 1987, Salif Keita scored massively with SORO, an album that blended traditional griot music and West African rock in a Parisian studio production. Since then he has been touring the globe with an arena rock stage show. Now he has paused long enough to put out a comparable album, featuring the best talents from Mali. Ousmane Kouyaté and Djely Moussa Kouyaté on guitars and Djanka Diabaté on backing vocals are experienced enough to know when to put intuition to the fore. The blistering guitar in "Africa" recalls the speedy riffs that characterized Keita's first group, the Rail Band. After quitting the Rail Band, Keita joined Les Ambassadeurs, and on FOLON he revisits one of their classic songs, "Mandjou," which has aged well. The atmospheric intros that made SORO so successful are also reprised here, most effectively on "Nyanyama," where Keita sings about the musician's role as the needle pulling together the social fabric. "Dakan-fe" is a credible sortie into African reggae (which is mostly late-Wailers style). The title track and the last cut, "Seydou," utilize traditional instruments to bring the raucous mood down to contemplative level.

SALIF KEITA
MOFFOU

Imagine one morning Salif Keita wakes up and thinks, Man I really blew it. I tried to ingratiate myself to the French kids but they are a bunch of racists and never really dug my music. What am I doing with these cheesy synthesizers and tweaky soprano saxes in my band? I need to go back to my roots, like Issa Bagayogo... He goes into the studio with acoustic guitar, ngoni and just enough technology to sweeten the sound and presto! He's back on top. That's clearly the case with his new album MOFFOU, but the bad news is there's no American distribution for it, so you'll need to get it in Europe.

One of the dozen tracks, "Souvent," is an up-tempo rocker, influenced by Issa but a bit too busy and nowhere near as subtle as the Yves Wernert-produced stuff on Cobalt. However, most of the album consists of the slow smoky laid-back cuts that he used to do with the Rail Band and Les Ambassadeurs du Motel in his prime. It's a welcome change. Now Salif finally sees he's never going to be Charles Aznavour or whomever he was trying to become when he recorded with Weather Report.

When you cut away all the French goop ("la goupe") that ruined his career for the last decade or more since 1987's SORO, you can hear his superb voice. That was a breakthrough album and at the time we welcomed the introduction of synthesizer, but it signaled a turning point in African music, as Africans' main goal suddenly became to get into a Paris studio and have "le programmation" take over for the rhythm section and "le synth terrible" replace les cuivres. Because of the vagaries of promos, I only heard part of this album so didn't get to hear the first cut which apparently features Cesaria Evora on vocals in a duet with Keita. I found a review on-line from the Bangkok Post but none of the local stores are stocking it, having written off Keita after his last few lackluster efforts.

Not only does Salif reteam with Kanté Manfila, guitarist of his Ambassadeur days, but he has returned to the acoustic sound that made his 1985 FOLON such a classic. Djelly Moussa Kouyaté from Guinea also appears on the album on acoustic guitar. The title refers to a new nightclub Salif has opened in Bamako, so he has indeed returned home and this album shows more than a welcome return to his musical roots.

SUPER RAIL BAND DE BAMAKO
SUPER RAIL BAND DE BAMAKO (Indigo HM 83 LBLC 2500)

In Mali, West Africa, despite military coups and other endemic problems, things seem laid back and no one wonders if the trains will ever run on time. Super Rail Band de Bamako is the first recording in over a decade by the Malian band that spawned Salif Keita and Mory Kanté. Though the electric griots have departed for Paris and fame, the band still sounds fresh and soulful with their veteran sax player and guitarist doing most of the work. Long unravelling songs like a rail journey through the desert, with Islamic harmonies, superlative guitar and horns.

SUPER RAIL BAND DE BAMAKO
KONGO SIGUI (Indigo LBLC 2581 HM 83)

This needs no recommendation from me. Long-awaited, the return of Super Rail Band and their finest offering since the 1985 classic "New Dimension in Rail Culture" on Globestyle, this is one for the ages. Their classic sound is intact, stripped of the horns, which may or may not be a blessing, and a kora thrown in for good measure. Djelimadi Tounkara rules the whole thing like the king he is. We have the West African triumvirate back in control now: Baobab, Bembeya and Rail Band, what joy!! Perhaps best known as the spawning ground of Mory Kanté and Salif Keita, the Rail Band, nonetheless should be acclaimed for its guitarist, Djelimadi Tounkara. Though their music is often described as electrified folklore it still has a folksy heart and the electric factor seems a bonus rather than something that has stripped its essence through modernization. Their musical influences span the globe, from Spain to Cuba to Congo, and they have matured with time. In fact the world has gone through more changes than the Rail Band and miraculously they sound as good as they did on their 1970s albums. We've also heard the unplugged version of the title song, "Kongo Sigui" on the recent stripped down mini-tour by Tounkara. Here you get it full force, with the pulsing bass busily filling the beats between the spare percussion, and the second guitar holding down the tune while Djelimadi gets to soar off into the heavens. Ballaké Sissoko appears on kora for a duet with Djelimady on acoustic guitar, on a traditional hunter's song. There's no djembe eruption, like you'd expect, but the big energy burst happens with the next track on which the percussionists are barely in check under the vocals. By the guitar solo, limbs are truly flying in all directions: classic Rail Band -- full steam ahead! Even the ballads have that barely contained energy as Tounkara fires off ideas and blistering runs at double tempo. Beautifully recorded, this is a magnificent album.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO MALI AND GUINEA (Rough Guide RGNET)

I have to admit I dismissed the first few Rough Guides as strictly for newbies, but soon realized my mistake as they are keystone collections for any area of world music. This one has a good cross-section of contemporary griot music from Francophone West Africa. There are plenty of classic tracks: Bembeya Jazz National's electric interpretation of the traditional song "Lan Naya" recorded when young Sekouba Diabaté became their vocalist; Momo Wandel Soumah's jazz classic "Basa" form his superb album MATCHOWÉ; Nahawa Doumbia singing "Fanadugule" from her album YANKAW, which was not widely available in the USA. Rail Band and Balla et ses Balladins are both here (with songs recorded in the 1970s): they are among the finest bands ever to come out of Africa. For guitar fans, there's Ali Farka Touré (dubbed "the John Lee Hooker of Mali") and the collaboration of Taj Mahal and kora player Toumani Diabaté on "Atlanta Kaira" from their album KULANJAN. Jali Moussa Jawara, the finest contemporary kora player, gives us "Haidara," the title cut from his out-of-print album of the same name. There are a couple of more poppy things, but on the whole this is a well-balanced and sequenced compilation that reveals a little of the riches of the West Africa musical tapestry and will send you off to explore these great artists if you don't already have their recordings.

JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL
WARABA (SGL SA 1549-2)

There have been many profitable junctures between jazz and Manding music, the best being pianist Hank Jones' 1995 collaboration with the Mandinkas on SARALA. Fra-Fra Sound from Holland are also worth checking out. The latest (to my knowledge) is bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel who has teamed up with some traditional musicians from Mali for a mellow hour of jazz. There is quite a bit of continuity here: Cheick Tidiane Seck, who led the Mandinkas, also appeared on Fra Fra Sound's MALI JAZZ album, along with Toumani Diabaté, kora, and Lansiné Kouyaté on balafon. Lansiné Kouyaté appears on Avenel's album, along with Moriba Koita, of the Mandinkas session, on ngoni. Therefore we can assume these Malians are at home with Westerners' sensibility when it comes to soloing or accompaniment. It's a very low-level recording, in order to make the double bass audible, but quite soothing, without going off towards ECM (German for "on-the-nod") dozing. Michel Edelin, another Frenchman, joins on flute and it does get wet for a while but as Ray Charles said, when Bill Cosby pointed out that his backing band at the Playboy Jazz Festival were all white, "They don't sound white!" When the balafon comes in things rock out in a restrained way. I'm assuming it's a pentatonic instrument, but there is a definite "A minor--E minor" air about the jam called "Guelema," which starts out with a strong suggestion of "Louie Louie"! WARABA could use a little more percussion to wake it up, but all in all I'd recommend this album as a cut above dinner jazz.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
WOMEN OF WASSOLOU (Sterns STC 1035)

WOMEN OF WASSOLOU is a well-planned introduction to the animated women who front some of the best traditional bands of West Africa's embattled desert nation, Mali. Drawn from the Syllart catalogue, this material shows the importance of women in West African music. However, of the Þve featured, I had only heard Oumou Sangaré before, so this compilation Þlls an important gap. Coumba Sidibé turns in classic praise songs backed by electrified ngoni (a distant cousin of the guitar), synthesizer and bass. The adaptation of traditional arrangements to an electric band has been handled with great restraint. Elegant þutes ornament the melodies over an insistently percussive background. The surprising Sali Sidibé performs a resounding "Djen Mali" which reminds me of Velvet Underground at their best, raw and raunchy with a manic fiddler stringing out the John Cale part.