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CD Review
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Billboard, CD Review >>
Kakande revolves around the superb artistry of balafon virtuoso Famoro Dioubate. The balafon, essentially a West-African xylophone, is not an easy instrument to master, but, then, Dioubate, a native of Guinea, is descended from griots who were playing gigs in the Mandé Empire in the Middle Ages. Dioubate cut this fine album in Brooklyn, working with nine musicians to create 11 songs that strike a lively balance between West African traditional music and a wonderful improvisational sensibility. Such tunes as "So Si Sa" and "Nina Kaba" have a enthralling rhythmic circularity and a deep, expansive groove. "Mariama Traoré," "Souaresi" and the title track, on the other hand, evince a more traditional feel, though even here Dioubate's arrangements suggest that he's very much at ease contemplating his tradition with a 21st-century musicality.
-by Philip Van Vleck 07/19/08 >> go there
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