My Life

It’s all a matter of interpretation. To some, Guinean singer Sia Tolno’s easy shifting back and forth between traditional styles and less geographically specific material could be seen as an exercise in bet-hedging, a refusal to nail her colours to a single mast. To others, this stylistic flexibility might be seen as an artist coolly able to shift gears without either incongruity or a lessening of quality.

The evidence of My Life, Tolno’s second album, suggests the latter is the more correct reading. She’s not consciously trying to court an international audience by including more modern material; it merely represents part of who she is. That said, the more generic songs are often lifted by some delicious traditional touches, usually in the form of guitarist Mamadou Camara’s liquid playing. Vocally, Tolno can belt it out – definite echoes of Angélique Kidjo’s stridency – but it’s the quieter, more reflective moments that really connect. The best Guinean music has often been gentle and acoustic (in particular stone-cold classic records from Kanté Manfila and Sona Diabaté), a perspective that Tolno pleasingly doesn’t forget. ‘Malaya’ (My Life) sways gracefully on the breeze, its gravity provided again by Camara’s guitar and charming backing vocals that recall Diabaté’s old group Les Amazones, while the Peul flute on ‘Di Ya Leh’ and ‘Toumah Toumah’ is welcome and delightful.

Recorded at Mory Kanté’s studio in Conakry, this is a confident statement from a confident Guinean woman. While unlikely to be the record to propel her internationally, it certainly suggests that an all-acoustic affair next time around could well unlock a few doors.