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CD Review
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Eastbay Express, CD Review >>
Mali has been called the Land of Gold, but it's also a land of golden music. The West African nation is touted in press releases as "the next Cuba," hinting at a Buena Vista Social Club-caliber renaissance, and as Mali proves, there's no denying that its output is as sonically intoxicating as Havana's these days. Home to widely divergent artists like Issa Bagayogo, Habib Koite, and Tinariwen, Mali's sound is a mix of modern, traditional, electric, and acoustic elements, often with a resonant, harmonic vibe uncannily similar to African-American blues. Traditional instruments like the balafon and ngoni work well with vocal harmonies and call-and-response chants, but it's all about the slow, rolling grooves -- awash in a sea of mellow polyphony -- that make the journey to Mali one you'll take again and again.
-Eric K. Arnold 07/20/05 >> go there
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