Name: I Speak Fula [Digipak]
Brand: Next Ambiance
SKU: 468826
Availability: OutOfStock

I Speak Fula [Digipak]

Rating

Album: I Speak Fula [Digipak]
#	Song Title	Time
1)	I Speak Fula
2)	Jamana Be Siya
3)	Musow (For Our Women)
4)	Torin Torin
5)	Bambugu Blues - (featuring Vieux Farka Tour/Andra Kouyate)
6)	Amy - (featuring Zoumana Tereta)
7)	Saro - (featuring Vieux Farka Tour)
8)	Ladon
9)	Tineni
10)	Falani
11)	Moustapha/Senufo Hunter

Performer Notes

Personnel: Zoumana Tereta (vocals).
Audio Mixer: Jerry Boys.
Liner Note Authors: Jay Rutledge; Lucy Duran.
Recording information: Studio Bogolan, Mali.
Photographers: Thomas Dorn; Marie Planeille.
My, how Bassekou Kouyate has grown since his solo debut. Touring with several big Western acts and alone has certainly helped, but there's a real sense of assurance and outright confidence about this disc, as he's moved from a fairly raw sense of desert blues -- unusual inasmuch as it was all played on ngoni lutes -- to something that's far more extroverted, and at times, pure rock & roll as he looses off solos that are gratifyingly electric (even with a mild touch of wah-wah here and there). Ngoni Ba has fully gelled as a group, and the guests add to the experience, especially such eminences as Toumani Diabat (who adds his ethereal kora to two tracks) or Vieux Farke Tour, who plays a subordinate role on the two cuts where he appears. Many of the lead vocals are handled by Kouyate's wife, Amy Sacko, who is earthy and powerful, but Kouyate himself is the star of the show, always in control, and with true star presence throughout. While sounding completely West African, this is an album that draws on Western flourishes in a way that can make it very accessible to ears that wouldn't normally listen closely to African music. That -- along with the superb music it contains -- makes it a very important disc indeed.

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.88) - "I SPEAK FULA effortlessly mixes the rapid-fire pluck of bluegrass, the doleful churn of the blues, the joyous pulse of AFropop, and the caffeinated whirl of high-velocity rock."

CMJ - "Kouyate's impressive solos decorate each track and make the ngoni sound like a combination of sitar, banjo and Spanish guitar."