Sodjan

If ngoni virtuoso Makan Badje Tounkara looks like he might be out to cash in on Bassekou Kouyaté's extraordinary success with Ngoni Ba, he is far from being a mere copyist. From a similarly illustrious griot background, he can lay claim to having recorded the first modern ngoni (Malian lute) virtuoso album, Ngoni Solo, nine years ago. Like Bassekou he has added three extra strings to the instrument's original four, and plays at times with a similar high-pitched note-bending touch.

While this second album features three variously toned ngonis, the emphasis is less on group interplay than on Bassekou's two albums; the recording, apparently by Makan himself, is more traditional in feel. On the opening title-track, a delightful skittering riff sets up a dialogue with a plaintively ragged chorus, before speeding up to allow some plinking, bendy-noted soloing. The bluesier ‘A Ye Wili’, with husky vocals from Makan has more soloing in this vein – which can feel a bit of a gimmick. If his playing overall is less energetic and pyrotechnic than Bassekou's the album scores when the ngonis dig into some earthy riffing behind some rather good singers (not clearly identified on the sleeve), including a Baaba Maal-ish man and a Fanta Damba-ish woman (a combination that can't be bad) on the world-weary ‘Kakolo’. There's a more upbeat feel to the Maninka-flavoured ‘Sabou, while Makan pulls out all the stops on the closer ‘Togna’. The best tracks here have an appealing sense of performances that would have gone on whether anyone was recording them or not.