Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali, just out in the US on Nonesuch, is a Pick of the Week on WNYC's Soundcheck, which calls the album "another strong showing of their cosmopolitan sound." New Jersey's Star-Ledger says that, with the new album, the couple "show they have opened up to a new era of musical possibilities," featuring "a sophisticated but rough-edged sound that can evoke African village griot storytellers as well as psychedelic garage bands ... By album's end, they have held master classes in rock, funk, reggae and rap, not to mention African styles," concludes the Star-Ledger, and "crowned a long career with an album that effortlessly blends Africa and the West."
Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali, just out in the US on Nonesuch, is a Pick of the Week on WNYC's Soundcheck. Following the couple's 2005 breakthrough album, the Manu Chao-produced Dimanche à Bamako, says the Soundcheck's executive producer, Gisele Regatao, "Welcome to Mali, is another strong showing of their cosmopolitan sound, which is always rooted in the African tradition." There's more at wnyc.org.
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New Jersey's Star-Ledger says that Amadou & Mariam "have shown themselves to be lifelong students, slowly building an international following for their music, which simultaneously sounds bluesy, African and old-school rock 'n' roll." Reviewer Marty Lipp says that, while Chao "exploded their usual rootsy Malian blues with his own pan-global influences" on their last album, "the new album sounds more firmly their own, but they show they have opened up to a new era of musical possibilities."
Among the collaborations in that expanded sound palette is the "head-spinning" opening track, "Sabali," produced by Blur/Gorrillaz front man Damon Albarn, after which, says Lipp, "the duo settle into a sophisticated but rough-edged sound that can evoke African village griot storytellers as well as psychedelic garage bands."
Far beyond garage-band status are the classic rock influence on guitarist Amadou Bagayoko. "Some of the album's meatiest sections sound like a boys' night out for former Deep Purple and Led Zep fan Bagayoko," Lipp suggests. "Particularly on the densely packed 'Masiteladi,' Bagayoko's Stratocaster unleashes some hot-rodding leads that should translate well when the duo backs Coldplay on a tour this summer."
For all that meatiness, Lipp insists that throughout the album, "the married couple steep the music with sweetness." Even so, though they close the album "with three fist-pumping tunes that still retain African flavors, but evoke brassed-up Earth, Wind and Fire and any number of more contemporary polyrhythmic jam bands."
Ultimately, over the course, of the album, "they have held master classes in rock, funk, reggae and rap, not to mention African styles," Lipp concludes. "Amadou & Mariam seemed to have learned their lessons well, chosen their musical alliances wisely and crowned a long career with an album that effortlessly blends Africa and the West."
Read the full review at nj.com.
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