Music Review

09 January 2009 22:40 BST

Amadou & Mariam: Welcome To Mali

Because Music, out November 24th.

In a nutshell…

Africa does make music that people without beards will like.

What's it all about?

World music – and especially the stuff coming out of Africa – has a bit of a bad reputation in the UK. For some reason, there's been a bit of a belief that a whole continent of 900-odd million people only produces traditional music which people with beards and sandals would like. Which is rubbish of course. It's a bit like suggesting that people from England only make Morris dancing tunes and songs that have to be played on the lute. Anyone who's ever stood on a street corner in Lagos or Dakar knows full well the places are home to loads of people making brilliant pop music. Now, Amadou & Mariam are out with their seventh record, Welcome To Mali, to show the world that there's a whole lot more to African music than sodding Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Who's it by?

Mariam Doumbia and Amadou Bagayoko are a pair of musicians from Mali who met at the country's Institute for the Young Blind. After finding they shared an interest in music, they started performing together in the early 1980s. They quickly built up a following in west Africa and toured in Burkina Faso and the Cote d'Ivoire. With the release of Sou Ni Tile in 1999 they started to get popular in France and played festivals across the world. However, it wasn't until perennial gap-year-student-favourite Manu Chao produced Dimanche a Bamako in 2004 that they blind duo hit mainstream success.

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys?

Who cares that Dimanche a Bamako was the record that launched Amadou & Mariam truly into the world? 2008 is shaping up to be Africa's year, what with Vampire Weekend, Buraka Som Sistema and that half-Kenyan fellow getting into the White House. On the back of the wave of pro-Africa sentiments that are sweeping the globe, it seems perfectly possible that the brilliant Welcome To Mali could clean up come award time

What the others say

"Busily upbeat and lushly-produced." Kitty Empire, Guardian

"It's a mix of the deceptively simple and rhythmically irresistible. Good times most definitely guaranteed." - Chris Jones, BBC.co.uk

So is it any good?

From the opening beats of the Damian Alban produced opener Sabali, Welcome To Mali is a record that subverts what you expect from an 'African' album. Throughout, the songs are gloriously popy and genuinely amazing.

There are still undeniable African sounds to the proceedings, but they are set within a context that is global. So the listener gets to flit from the sparse coffee table beats of the Alban-produced track, through some rap to some classic R 'n' B.

Of course, there are moments when the record dont quite measure up to its aims. The collaboration with Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan on Africa falls rather flat and the whole album is perhaps two songs too long.

But when it works, like on Masiteladi and Djama, you get songs of such quality that it makes you want to pack up your bags and head off to west Africa with a tape recorder.

9/10

James Cooper