Kanamalu

Welcome to a new music label, bravely launching with a brace of albums by Portuguese-based artists, including this fine outing. Kimi Djabaté is a 40-year-old guitarist, singer and percussionist who grew up in Guinea-Bissau. A child prodigy, he performed at weddings and baptism ceremonies and then toured Europe in 1994 with the national music and dance ensemble before eventually settling in Lisbon. His third album, which follows a self-released debut in 2005 and 2009's Karam, which appeared on Cumbancha, finds him singing in a gentle croon with an attractively husky patina, vaguely reminiscent of his countryman and fellow exile Manecas Costa. Traditional kora (harp-lute), balafon (xylophone) and calabash patterns are intricately woven with throbbing bass, guitar and drums. On a blind listen you would probably locate the sound firmly in the griot traditions of Mali – which indeed is where his Mande ancestors migrated from several centuries ago. His songs deal with both political and personal issues. The title-track is a hymn to the pride of the griot patrimony and several of the best songs are faithfully fashioned in the classic praise style, including ‘Ululalu’, dedicated to his mother; ‘Anhonté’, written for his daughter and ‘Saia’, a lament for his late father.