Amadran

After becoming familiar with Bassekou Kouyaté's thrilling electrified ngoni, it's fascinating to hear an album of solo, acoustic ngoni playing, deep and timeless in its unadorned simplicity. Born in Mali in 1963, Baba Sissoko worked in the National Orchestra of Mali and spent a dozen years playing with Habib Koité before moving to Europe in the 90s. He has since released a prolific string of recordings, mostly unfamiliar to this reviewer, although I did write favourably in these pages about Griot Blues, his 2017 collaboration with the American bluesman Might Mo Rodgers (reviewed #136).

The opening title-track showcases all that is best about this album – funky, solo picking on a slow blues that reminds one not only of Ali Farka Touré but also of Jimi Hendrix's solo acoustic picking on ‘Hear My Train a Comin'.’ Baba's ngoni playing is augmented only by singing in a deep, mostly wordless voice that manifests the Mande-to-Mississippi connection. The one criticism is that there's little change of pace over the 14 tracks. It's a terrific sound but after an hour, you do long for him to try something a little different.