Kamélé Yeleen

Moussa Pantio Diabaté is a balafon (xylophone) player from Burkina Faso. With the help of Arts Council funding he was able to put together an ensemble to record a collection of 12 songs. Instrumentally this is a well-realised album, with evidence of Diabaté’s prowess as a balafon player. He has a good backing unit of percussionists who ensure that the musical pace never flags.

All positive so far. But unfortunately the fine playing is marred by some pedestrian vocals that consistently manage to overshadow the joyous music. Diabaté’s voice is harsh and flat and, sadly, his accompanists fare no better. Rustic and slightly off-pitch vocals often sound perfectly acceptable when heard in context – busking in an urban or rural location, say, or in a compound in Africa. However, on a CD they tend to sound intolerably intrusive and distracting. It’s obviously a good thing that Arts Council funding is supportive of recording projects like this one. But in this particular example it is just a little disappointing that the singing is unable to match the quality of the instrumentation.