Sunday, October 19, 2008

713. Baaba Maal - Lam Toro (1992)
















Track Listing

1. Hamady Boiro (Yelle)
2. Daande Lenol
3. Lem Gi (Le Miel)
4. Ndelorel
5. Yela
6. Toro (Tioulel l'Oiseau)
7. Daniibe (Les Exilés)
8. Olel (I'écho)
9. Sy Sawande
10. Hamady Bogle

Review

I really like Senegalese music. The two previous Senegalese albums we've had here were winners, and this one is also pretty good. Frankly I would prefer this album to have been a bit more traditional, some of the syths date the album in a way that is totally unnecessary.

That said there are great sounds here, Baaba Maal has a great voice, as we had seen before in his album with Mansour Seck. Then there is some very good instrumentation, I particularly love the sound of the Kora, which works strangely well with Uillean Pipes on the second track.

If you manage to ignore some of the "innovations" to the album, which are not that prevalent really, so it is easy to ignore them, this is a highly enjoyable album. Not as good as the previous Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck album but not far behind it. So give it a go.

Track Highlights

1. Daande Lenol
2. Daniibe
3. Toro
4. Sy Sawande

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Born 12 November 1953. Since his father was a fisherman, Baaba Maal was expected to become a fisherman as well. However, under the influence of his life long friend Mansour Seck, Baaba Maal devoted himself to learning music from his mother and his school's headmaster. He went on to study music at the university in Dakar before leaving for postgraduate studies on a scholarship at Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has become quite famous in Africa and is also the most internationally famous musician from Senegal, with the possible exception of Yossou N'Dour.


Very Long version of Hamady Boiro:



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