Kora Revolution
If you are one of those folks who wish that the traditional sounds of Senegalese music were more dominant in the work ofBaaba Maal, here's your opportunity to enjoy those elements more fully. Kaouding Cissoko has been the Daande Lenol band'skoraplayer for a long time and more recently provided an essential ingredient in the recordings ofAfro Celt Sound System. Here he stands out front on an album of bright, poppy tunes, many with the subtle Latin groove so essential to the Senegalese pop sound. The band that backs him is a family affair ofbalafons, guitars, percussion, flutes, electric bass, and female vocals; the result is decidedly folkie and introspective (particularly in contrast to the Baaba Maal sound). It's more a counterrevolution, actually, a positive look back to the acoustic roots of the music: the complex rhythms, the call-and-response vocals, and above all thekoraplaying of one of West Africa's masters, at long last in the limelight.--Louis Gibson