CultureRize: Bamako All Stars Vol I

All-star projects can often end up with curate’s egg on their tracklists. The Bamako-based collective with the cumbersome name are mixed and mastered by Charles Auguste Coulibaly and Marco Romano, aka MC Spacewalk, whose vocals feature on two of the 11 tracks celebrating Mali’s rich musical heritage and the communicatory power of rhythm. Traditional and contemporary instruments are augmented by a range of guest vocalists, including the late Zoumana Tereta and Miss Maawa. The former is heard on the standout ‘Ma Bien Aimée’, in which Tereta’s magnificent guttural vocal and the underlying instrumental drone refuse to waver in the face of a snarling, sniping electric guitar. On the latter’s impressive main feature, ‘Imakou Ye Ndie (Don’t Cry)’, her vocal would give Fatoumata Diawara a run for her money. The other featured vocalists are very much representative of the contemporary Malian music scene: Adama Kouyaté is heard on the delicious ‘Kanimba Yeke Yeke’, seemingly a transmutation of Mory Kanté’s mega hit, while Kerfala Kante Jr’s feature ‘Mobaden’ could almost be taken from (his former boss) Salif Keita’s Amen. Even if a couple of cuts don’t quite hit the mark, as curate’s eggs go, this is a tasty one.