Customer Reviews

Djam Leelii

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Baaba Maal's voice is a unique treasure ... I have never heard anything like it... there is a metallic sheen about it that is so haunting, you can never forget it.

This is Baaba Maal's BEST album, by far, and I have heard almost every album by him. It is hard to remember an album in which I have liked every song. Maal sticks to his Fulani roots in this album, something he doesn't do in his other (and later) albums, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. Most people know Maal from his collaboration with the Screaming Orphans (Sinead O'Connor's backup band), with the result being the famous song, "Souka Naayo" ("I will follow you") and, while that song is very pretty, these songs touch something deep within you. My favorite song is "Salminaanam," but there are about five or six songs that are exceptional..."Muudo Hormo" and "Lam Tooro" come to mind immmediately.

This album is sublime. I have listened to it for 4 years now. It is surreal. I didn't find the beauty in this the first time I listened to it. The mesmerizing melodies found their way to my liking after repeated exposure, but then all I wanted was more. Nice sunny driving music.

Baba Maal teams up with Masour Seck in this extremely high quality live recording. The master tapes, having been lost for seven years, have been recently found and remastered to give this great album.
Highly recommended, but be patient. It is not pop. It one of those albums that will find its way to your heart by investing time. But we all know, those are the albums we keep a lifetime.

almost, but...had to add a few words because of my love for this incredible work of art. If you have even a bit of a nomad soul this will reach out and grab yours and take it on a trip. I've listened to it until I can sing along, don't know how any mere human could have created it.

Djam Leeli is one of the most beautiful albums to grace the last 25 years of this century. Haunting African night-filled music that tells the story. You know. The story that can only be expressed in sound, poetry, and music like this.

Haunting... that's how I describe this album when I try to explain to people why this is one of the best albums ever. The guitar of Seck and the voice of Baaba Maal are intense, deep and emulate all possible emotional sides. Often the songs ring with only Monsour Seck's guitar and Baaba Maal's haunting voice,other times there's a band behind them. Either way, it's hard to describe... however, it's not dancable. Rather, it's music to put on when you need to write something or do anything where creativity requires something deep to resonate within you. If there were only 10 albums I could buy in the world, this would be in the top 5.

Brilliant album with sensitive, haunting vocals and guitar work. It's one of the best in my world music collection. I recommend it without hesitation to anyone into world music.

I, too, have considered this album one of the most beautiful I have ever listened to--also in the top 5 or 3 of my all time favorites. Perhaps the beauty of the music is a reflection of the special relationship between Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck, his blind boyhood friend. Baaba Maal brings Seck on tour with him all over the world--it's quite something to see how this friendship has endured through Maal's rise to fame.

This album reissue seems to have everything going for it: restrained yet stylish design courtesy of Intro, warm remastering, and of course the music itself, expanded with "non-produced" bonus cuts. Judging from the brief liner notes, the album follows a concept of sorts, the movement of Pulaar males from village life to metropolitan life and all the anomie, wonder, and disruption of community this entails. But what is missing is a description or translation of the lyrics, since this IS an album not of pounding drums but of intricate melodies and words. Full translations tend to be financially unfeasible, but Palm Pictures could have used RealWorld's method of offering brief descriptions of each song text, with a quote from each song. This release leaves the listener wondering about the meaning of the music, and ultimately does a disservice to Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck, whose words are lost to those of us who do not speak Pulaar, which is most of us. Presentation blunders like this may even have a negative impact on the reception of African music: that the lyrics are not important, they're just chanting and anyway, it's the drums that matter, right?...

This CD has so many haunting melodies. It can take you to another place, a place you want to be. It is soothing and stimulates a warm happy feeling at the same time. It almost sounds like something from another time, a simpler time. Beautiful music, frustrating to try to put to words, but really fine music.

I was bored last Saturday and stopped at a used CD/vinyl store in my neighborhood. Went upstairs to the bargain bin and found this on a cassette. Since I love Baaba Maal and the cassette player in my old car still works, for 90 cents I thought "how wrong can I go?" Wrong??? This is among the most mesmerizing, exquisite music I have ever heard - by Baaba or anyone else! I am here at amazon today to buy the CD so I can listen to this in my home as well - I actually think it's kind of dangerous for me to listen to this music while driving. As one other reviewer said, it takes me to another place - a place I didn't know existed and where I definitely want to be. I have never written a review here before. But this is inspired, enchanting, soothing, soulful music. I don't even know yet who Mansour Seck is or what a Djam Leelii is, but what an introduction. Best 90 cents I ever spent. Thank you Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck. BUY THIS MUSIC! You will not be sorry.