Mali All Stars: Bogolan Music

You might have thought there were already enough compilations of Malian music in the world. But this well presented box-set puts a fresh spin on it: since all the featured artists have recorded at Bamako's Bogolan Studios, that is the overall concept, and the set includes a bonus disc with archive footage of the artists at work in the studio itself. The first disc is more traditional, albeit focusing on contemporary acoustic and electric music rather than folkloric field recordings: all the expected names are mostly present, with the exception of a few such as Les Ambassadeurs. The second disc helps outline why Mali's Mande music has exerted such an influential pull on world music fans (including Western musicians) over the last quarter-century. Dee Dee Bridgewater sounds perfectly comfortable sparring with Kassé Mady Diabaté, while Björk makes herself at home over a ruminative digital backing with Toumani Diabaté on ‘Hope’ and even the overrated Damon Albarn puts in an effort that doesn’t sound nearly as hammy as he did back in 1992.