Track Listing

1. Si Naani
2. Elyne Road
3. Ali Farka Toure
4. Kaunding Cissoko
5. Ismael Drame
6. Djourou Kara Nany
7. El Nabiyouna
8. Cantelowes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1008 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-25
• Number of discs: 1

Songlines magazine, April/May 2008 (issue #51
Toumani Diabaté is today for the kora (harp-lute) what Ravi Shankar was for the sitar 40 years ago - not just the outstanding virtuoso of his generation but a musician with the visionary genius to exert a profound influence far beyond world music. Just as Shankar influenced George Harrison and others, Toumani has already made an impact on the music of Björk, Damon Albarn and those at the more adventurous end of the rock spectrum.
If the album title was chosen to echo Bach's Goldberg Variations, it's a good analogy, for there's a courtly grace and elegance to these eight long, solo instrumental pieces. The effect is meditative - this is music for the head. And yet there is rhythm, too, of an astonishingly subtle complexity, although you'd have trouble dancing to it. Some have found the music's intricate, dignified counterpoint too austere to maintain concentration. Repeated listening pays dividends however - there's a voluptuousness in Toumani's endlessly varying contours of interdependent melody, harmony and rhythm that is quite engrossing. How a solo instrument recorded without overdubs can sound so lush and layered is remarkable - once again, Shankar comes to mind. Nor has the general seriousness of purpose dimmed Toumani's sense of fun - I am indebted to fellow music critic John Mulvey for pointing out that the opening phrases of `Cantelowes' are a playful quotation from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, a little riff Toumani picked up from Bassekou Kouyaté while recording his Djelika album back in 1995. This is a heroic record in every sense.
Nigel Williamson

Jazzwise, (Jane Cornwell), March 2008
(4 stars) Diabate has created a modern classic, a benchmark of traditional African music by a maestro in his prime.

The Guardian, (Robin Denselow), February 22, 2008
(4 stars) Remarkable...mixes the African praise song tradition with playful new influences...classy and gently intriguing.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, just brilliant
If you do not want the hair on your neck to stand up and goosebumps to appear on your arm then don't buy it, because this CD is truly brilliant. It's different to his others but that is the greatness of this guy. Some of the tunes relate to his experiences in the UK and he even plays with us in Cantelowes when you hear the start of the sound track for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Hey this guy has humour as well as brilliance.
With the world falling about our ears and all the talk of greed and corruption just buy this and take your mind to some calm and peaceful place. This can really contribute to your sanity. I'm off to chill out with this CD. I have all his CDs but this is really set apart, perhaps it stands out becasue it is less traditional, please buy it and you will not be disappointed, trust me

a master at work
I bought this as part of the run up to the 2008 WOMAD and I am so glad that I did. This is a work of great virtuosity that transports me to another world. I feel humbled by the presence of Diabate's playing genius and simultaneously soothed by music of great beauty. Oh and by the way he was as good live as he is on disc. I can highly recommend this CD to anyone wanting to experience superb music and a living African legend.

A gentle bolt from heaven
I was a complete newcomer to this man and his music until, when sat watching all the latest Arcade Fire soundalikes on Jools' 'Later' one night found myself completely transfixed by his single performance in the middle of it all. This CD has continued to captivate me with it's joyful tunes and resonances, captured perfectly by a most sympathetic engineer. Toumani makes his instrument 'sing' throughout in much the same way to my ear as Abdullah Ibrahim does with a piano, or Ornette Coleman with an alto sax. Profoundly beautiful music !