Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali makes its US debut with its Nonesuch release today. Details gives it four-and-a-half stars. These "titans of world music ... continue to transcend borders," reads the magazine's review, as with "the mind-blowing" Damon Albarn–produced opening track, "Sabali." On the song, the duo joins its "trademark African-blues sound with an indie-rock melody, seventies ELO synths, and programmed beats to create a soulful and modern masterpiece." And with good news so hard to come by these days, says Blurt (formerly HARP) magazine, that kind of good news is welcome indeed.

With Welcome to Mali, writes Blurt's Jennifer Kelly, Amadou & Mariam have created an album of "pure sensual joy, a raft of infectious-rhythmed, ebulliently performed funk-rock-desert-electro-dance songs ... in a music so generous, so inclusive and celebratory that you cannot help feeling a wave of optimism." And in a time when the world is suffering from the far-reaching repercussions of the financial crisis, "Amadou & Mariam invite you to a party, with borrowed chairs, home-made liquor, a ragtag assortment of multi-national guests and music that goes on all night. It's just what you need ... really."

Just as their 2005 Manu Chao collaboration Dimanche à Bamako exhibited the couple's ability to blend "lots of different musical styles and ethnic influences into their West African aesthetic," so does Welcome to Mali showcase their interest in a broad range of musics, the article explains. "This is African-tinged pop, with the emphasis on pop. There's nothing archival or field recorded about it."

A prime example of that is the aforementioned album opener, "Sabali," which can be seen, at first, as "an interesting juxtaposition" of styles, says Kelly, "but you quickly get beyond 'interesting.' The track works as the purest kind of electro pop, natural and synthesized, danceable and subtly melancholy." Even so, Amadou & Mariam's Malian roots are hardly lost amid the many non-traditional sounds found throughout the record. "[I]n all cases," she finds, "these non-African sounds are integrated, enveloped almost, with the buoyant rhythms, the scintillating funk guitars of West African pop."  

For all its ebullience, Welcome to Mali does not skirt the social issues affecting Mali, with several songs addressing these concerns. "Yet even these songs are full of joy," Kelly insists, "celebrating survival, friends and music, even in very difficult circumstances. The worst depression in history in the West would be a pretty flush year in Mali. Welcome to Mali is for the good times, even in bad times."

Read the complete article at blurt-online.com.

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In a Time Out New York profile of Amadou & Mariam, Sophie Harris writes that, while their last album may have made them stars, "it's the duo's new album, Welcome to Mali, that confirms their status while also redefining—or rather, undefining—the very notion of 'world music.'"

Harris describes the record as sounding "like it was made, variously, in 1970s flare-wearing New York, in a timeless stretch of desert, and at the kind of party you'd most like to be asked to." She too singles out the Albarn-produced "Sabali" as the album's "jewel in its crown ... a blissful amalgam of electronic arpeggios and Mariam's sweet, ethereal vocal, which sounds like it's being beamed in from outer space."

That leads to a further discussion of the post–world music world signaled by Amadou & Mariam's broad-ranging musical interests. "The great thing about Amadou is he's got open ears," Albarn tells Time Out in an e-mail. "I've sat with him for days on end in different parts of Africa and here in Britain, and he's always excited by new music. It's part of his life and who he is."

That openness to new sounds, and their own universal appeal to others is apparent when they perform for audiences around the world. And part of that appeal is the genuine enjoyment they get performing with each other. "It's not just the band's riotous, sweaty beats or Amadou's hell-for-leather guitar solos that make their gigs so spectacular," Harris insists. "To see Amadou & Mariam perform is to be awed by their bond."

Read the article at timeout.com/newyork.

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Blender magazine gives the album three and a half stars. Reviwer Jon Dolan says that after their previous album, on which "Amadou’s desert-breeze blues guitar and chesty testifying blended into Mariam’s cheery meditations," the couple have moved from "their polite safety zone" for Welcome to Mali. And, says Dolan, that "makes their bliss more earned." Read the review at blender.com.

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Billboard's Philip Van Vleck sees "musical progress" in Amadou & Mariam's latest work, calling it an "intriguing follow-up" to Dimanche à Bamako. He cites the track "Sebeke" for its "western influences—electronic enhancements plugged into blues riffs, flying by at a rock-music tempo." You can watch a live performance video of that track at nonesuch.com/media.

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Stark magazine places Welcome to Mali atop its list of This Week's Notable Releases. "We can't say enough about this Malian, husband and wife duo," says the Stark staff. "Their modernized African music, infused with American R&B and Rap influences may cause spontaneous dancing, porch lounging and cocktail sipping. Listen wisely." Visit starkmagazine.blogspot.com for more.