Introducing Amadou Diagne

Senegalese guitarist and singer-songwriter Amadou Diagne won World Music Network's online ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition with an entry that lacks soul, rhythm or spice. The opening track ‘Senegal’ – the one that won him the competition – does not show off his best side. In fact, he doesn't really get going until the final track ‘Mam’, in which some sense of rhythm carries the song from one end to the other. The opening track sets us up for some weak songwriting, compositions lacking in imagination, and anaemic, unappetising melodies.

‘Talibe’, a song about Senegalese street children, is poignant, a feeling accentuated by the mournful cello which also gives it some musical richness. But the song struggles to find shape, move on or reach a climax and one feels deflated by the end. ‘Africa Stop War’ has rhythm driving it and a sense that we are going somewhere, but layering the voices and adding some fullbodied instruments could have made this a really enjoyable song.

Thankfully a kora (harp-lute) was brought in to add some depth to the album and young Gambian player Sura Susso adds his quietly stunning strokes to ‘Beaguele’. The two work together well on this track, Diagne's voice lifts and the two play off against each other's rhythms. But it also serves to point out that Diagne's voice and guitar alone are not enough to give these songs the punch they need. Without the kora's melodic tones, the songs limp along without purpose. For an Introducing album, this was a missed trick. Diagne's debut should have been the one to show an international audience what good music he could make. The album does little to showcase his talents and his follow-up will have to be extraordinary. Some musical direction and top-class production would have made this something worth talking about.