COMPOSERS: Kasse Mady Diabate
LABELS: EMI Hemisphere
PERFORMER: Kasse Mady Diabate
CATALOGUE NO: 5 43713 2
Now in his fifties, KASSE MADY DIABATE sang his way through Western adventures and collaborations that didn’t work out, or didn’t last. Now, back in Mali, he has made a rootsy acoustic collection in which traditional instruments support his fluent, grainy and vital voice and restless guitar-playing.
It’s a consummate display of musicianship and poetic vision. The 14 songs, up to six minutes long, use a huge diversity of pace and rhythm and amount to the month’s most comprehensively accomplished, no-fuss album.