Acoustic

Oumou Sangaré's label have certainly got some mileage out of her brilliant 2017 album, Mogoya. It was followed a year later by Mogoya Remixed, in which high-profile fans including Sampha, Spoek Mathambo and St Germain retooled the tracks.

Now comes Acoustic, the nine songs from Mogoya re-recorded unplugged in a live session plus two additional tracks, including a stripped down version of ‘Diaraby Nene’, first heard on her 1989 debut Moussolou. It's a matter of personal taste but many will rate Acoustic as the best of the three related records. On Mogoya the French production team A.L.B.E.R.T. adventurously surrounded her sinuous voice and the throb of the traditional kamalengoni with funky bass riffs, keyboards and bursts of rock guitar. It worked a treat but there's a special joy in hearing the songs pared back to the roots of Wassoulou tradition, accompanied only by two backing singers, guitarist Guimba Kouyaté and the kamalengoni of Brahima ‘Benogo’ Diakité. A.L.B.E.R.T’.s Vincent Taurelle adds the tinkling, glockenspiel-like sound of a celesta to new song ‘Saa Magni’, a graceful lament for the late Amadou Ba Guindo of Orchestre Le National Badema. Less happily he contributes some preposterous toy organ to ‘Fadjamou’ but it's the only bum note on an otherwise exquisite set.