Hakili

Mamady Keita is, pretty much, the Ravi Shankar of the djembé. More than any other artist, he has taken the Mande blacksmith’s drum to all corners of the globe. This CD and DVD celebrates 50 years of his career, with tracks from live shows of a 13-piece group, Sewa Kan.

The music of Mali and Guinea had some historical separation between the court griot’s music (played on kora and balafon) and the dance-drumming of the villages. In the instruments that Sewa Kan play, we get a refreshing partnership – with melodic instruments accompanying the drumming, as much as the drums accompany the songs. On both DVD and CD, Mamady does well to keep the audience entertained with variety in tempo and mood, and just the right amount of choreographed drumming. The dj embé soloists naturally take centre-stage, but Prince Diabaté’s kora and Djelimady Kouyaté’s balafon excel in both solo and accompaniment roles. Manu Hermia’s flute and sax, however, are an occasional distraction – whilst often beautifully integrated into the traditional music, there are moments where the faux-ecstasy of his Kenny G-style soprano stretch the taste of otherwise well-intentioned fusion. On the whole, though, the interest only wanes slightly in the vocals. We are so used to hearing the highest level of Mande vocals – this village-style call-and-response song structure can sound wondrous from lead singers with more variation in the ‘call’ element – that these vocals seem a little flat in comparison. Small quibbles aside, there is so much material here that is thrilling and joyful, this makes a fantastic addition to your African music collection.