| ARTIST | TITLE | NUMBER | FMT | PRICE | BUY |
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| FISSA MAIGA | MALI ISSA BERO | 83125 | TC | 6.50 | COL |
| Calebasse and simple violon play side by side with the guitars on this superb traditional album. The music and singing remind me very much of Ali Farka Toure's earlier albums. Simple percussive backing with the guitar picking out the tune over the violon, to this Fissa adds her own and the girls lovely vocals. Yehia Arby's solo guitar is brilliant throughout but he really comes into his own on the final track 'Hayira Chen'no'. A smooth but vibrant album that is now a firm favorite of mine without a doubt. | |
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| MAMAR KASSEY | ALATOUMI | 470003 | CD | £ 14.50 | |
| One of the finest world music albums of 2000 was Mamar's Denke Denke and this is the sublime new album from the nine piece band from Niger. Resolutely contemporary in style and sound yet imbued with the centuries of Peul tradition, they are ambassadors for their country and their continent and they provide us with some of the most stimulating and effervescent sounds from the dynamic world of African music. A TOP SELLING ALBUM. | |
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| MAMAR KASSEY | DENKE-DENKE | 332006 | CD | £ 14.50 | |
| Just one amazing CD. Frantic ngonis, driving electric guitars, bass, wild fulani, lots of percussion, male lead and female chorus all leave you completely breathless. The lead flute player has assembled a staggering group to fulfil his vision of a contemporary Niger roots band to take on the world. (Froots Oct 2000) | |
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| MOUSSA POUSSI | TORO | SYL83131 | TC | £ 6.50 | |
| A smashing album from the velvet voiced Moussa with Boncana Maiga giving it the Paris treatment. Fast paced and very different to the tape I got last year by Saadou which was quite traditional. Recorded at Studio JBZ in Abidjan with Wurri Moctar on keyboards, Abdoulay and Boko Didier on guitars and top Ivorien singer Antoinette Konan in the chorus. (F.T.Index: Gao Izo, Toro, Nabo Nabo, Weimo, Gossi) [9T/38M] | |
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| SAADOU | BORI | 83127 | TC | 6.50 | COL |
| Saadou is a superstar in his own country with a number of more traditional sounding albums to his credit. Most of the line-up is unknown but singer Antoinette Konan (See Ivory Coast) is on chorus with Boko Didier on bass guitar, Manu Yodan on sax and Ali Maliki on lead guitar. The album was recorded at Studio JBZ in Abidjan by Boncana Maiga and Ali Maliki, there being no studios in Niger. The music (having nothing from Niger to compare it with) comes across as a slightly funky Malian sound which is similar to early Zani Diabate mixed with Maiga's Paris fussion style. Saadou's crisply delivered vocals are perfectly matched to Ali's lovely guitar playing as the track 'Badossa' will show. A wonderful album. (8 tracks). | |
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| SAADOU BORI AND MOUSSA POUSSY | NIAMEY TWICE | STCD1057 | CD | 8.25 | COL |
| A compilation taken from the two cassettes Bori and Toro. Missing from Bori are the tracks Badossa and Maidawa and from Toro the tracks Crise Du Golfe and Gondi Yaro. | |
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