Sabaru

Sekou is the son of Guinean kora player M’Bady Kouyaté, but takes tradition further, using amplification and effects pedals. He melds his core sound with several different musical forms, in a variety of collaborations. Yet even if its methods are wayward, this album keeps close to the old-school vocabulary. From the opening ‘Dela’, Sekou crafts a rippling, lilting depth of atmosphere, interweaving kora, guitar, bass and percussion with tingling picking and sonorous vocals all aligning harmoniously.

Sekou can sing high when he wants to, usually in order to create a dreamy, contemplative aura. Almost Afrobeat, ‘Groove Kora’ spins off with a quickened bass heartbeat, while ‘Fouta’ has reggae inflections in its call-and-response vocals. ‘Emourafama’ is filled with elaborate bass work, continuing into the springy, detailed sound of ‘Nade’. Sekou's most extreme stretch arrives during ‘Dificil’, in a running battle with a paired guitar, in which he takes a near-psychedelic kora solo. Although it is trimmed with fusion elements, this recording still resonates with an organic Guinean tradition.