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CD Review
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Slipcue, CD Review >>
This collaboration between Canadian roots-bluegrass performer Jayme Stone and Malian griot Mansa Sissoko came out of a two-month journey to Africa, in which Stone explored the African connections to Appalachian mountain music, and in particular to his own instrument, the banjo, an African instrument that came into the American backwoods via minstrel shows and the slave economy of the pre-Civil War era. While in Mali, he met and recruited Sissoko, who adds the haunting vocals and kora harp that have become so well known in world music circles -- Sissoko's playing is beautiful, and the tracks where he takes the lead are standouts. The integration of the two styles isn't always consistent -- Sissoko often plays what sound like essentially unaltered griot ballads, while Stone leaps into improvisational bluegrass flights that make nods towards Tony Rice and others, but aren't always clearly African influenced. When Stone slips the banjo and fiddle into songs such as "Tree To Tree," however, it's pretty groovy, and while a whole album's worth of genre-bending experiments might have done more to make the case for a connection between the two styles, the entire album is quite lovely and meditative... A nice record, very creative and filled with sweet, lulling melodies. Recommended!
-- by Kay Lawrence 10/10/08 >> go there
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