Customer Reviews

Oumou

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

 

 

Oumou Sangare has been a household name in Mali for over a decade now, and is almost unquestionably the most popular singer in that West African country these days. This double CD provides a pretty thorough sample of her career, from her first recordings to her latest (and previously unreleased) efforts.

If you own "Ko Sira," "Moussoulou" and "Worotan" there are still half a dozen or so tracks here that you probably don't already have on CD. Most of them are from her 2001 release "Laban," which while never released in the West is the best-selling recording in Malian history. There's also a DJ remix of her haunting "Djorolen." The original is one of my favorite Oumou songs, and the new version is haunting but in a surprising way--a significant departure from the source material.

If you DON'T own any of the three albums listed above, you owe it to yourself to pick up this collection and check out what Oumou has to offer. There's a reason she's such a superstar at home. Talent is a big part of it, as is good business sense and keen ambition. But listening to "OUMOU" will tell pretty much the whole story.

Whether or not you need this 2-disc set all depends on the status of your Oumou Sangare collection. It must have been quite a shock and disappointment for people who wanted, but did not yet have all 3 of her previous albums, to see them all go out-of-print. If you do not own any or all of Woroton, Moussoulou, or Ko Sira, you need to buy this. Period. If you already own all 3, this is not an essential purchase for you. That could be considered the end of my review, for all intents and purposes.

I have all 3 and when I saw the release of this disc, I have to admit I was disappointed. In a perfect world, the 3 previous albums would have stayed in print, and this would have been a 2 or 3-disc set made up of live material as well as the new (to those of us not in Africa) studio tracks included here that are from the Africa-only cassette release, Laban. This would have been my first choice because that way we all would have gotten much more new material. Let's face it, anyone who has heard Oumou in concert knows that she is phenomenal. I can't imagine anyone who has been to her concerts not thinking it was one of the best concerts they have ever been to. She is truly a gift to us all. Chicago '99 is the performance that proves this to me.

Even though I was disappointed to see that the vast majority of this set is previously-released material I already owned, I still had to buy it. I had heard OF the Laban cassette in the past couple years but never heard it, and it kinda drove me nuts knowing there was new Oumou out there that I couldn't get my hands on. Now that I have heard the new stuff, it turns out that (at least in my opinion) none of the new tracks are at the level of the older stuff. It's not that I don't like the songs, though. It's the fact that the new stuff is more electronic. I prefer stripped-down Oumou. For me, she could do an album with nothing more than herself, her female back-up singers, a ngoni and a calabash player and *POOF*, magical album. The new tracks are the exact opposite of that. Keyboards, programming, smoother production, etc... Actually I don't mind the drum programming on a couple tracks, but some of the keyboard stuff is just way too smooothie-pop layering for me.

Having said all this, for what it is... a Best Of album with some new tracks... it is excellent. It truly does have all her best songs from the first 3 albums. In order, I have always ranked her albums (favorite to least) as Ko Sira, Moussoulou, and then Worotan. Ko Sira and Moussoulou both being fantastic almost from beginning to end, and Worotan being okay overall with some bright spots.

So, 5 stars because the stuff from the previous albums is still fantastic, but I take away a couple stars for the production style of the new tracks, but then I give a star back because like I said, now that the first 3 albums are gone, this is the perfect digest of those albums. This is jam-packed with her best songs... and her voice!

If you don't have the other 3 albums, do not hesitate to buy this. You will continue to miss out on some great stuff if you don't.

To understand where Africa has been and where it's headed, it would be necessary to read volumes of history, to travel extensively, to watch the off-brand news services religiously, and to truly grasp a Van der Grinten projection map. A shorter way would be to listen to Oumou Sangare - songs detailing the old ways, not always kindly, and songs declaring the rights of the new times. She's been criticized by the establishment and lauded by her fellow countrymen. However, all of this is secondary to the fact that she can sing like nobody's business. Incredible arrangements, excellent band, startling vocal control and arresting melodies. This is what the American "divas" only dream they could pull off.

One of my favorite things about this album are the liner notes, which were written by Oumou Sangare herself. They really help me to appreciate the music better than I was able to before. There is a lovely humor and warm intelligence to her notes, and they are also quite informative about the various musical traditions in Mali and how they figure in the various songs. Also, she talks about the political commentary provided in the songs (in many of the traditional songs she added verses, for example), and how she sometimes sings traditional songs in an ironic way: all of that sort of thing is lost on a non-Malian listener unless it is explained.

This album compiles songs from her three previous albums, and adds eight new tracks. Some of my favorite things were new ('new' in the sense of 'not previously available on CD'). Although there is a five-song overlap between this and "Worotan" (the other Oumou Sangare album that I have), I don't mind too much. I do agree with the other reviewer who noted that this album is probably not essential for someone who already has all three of the previous albums; but if you've got only one, and you like it, I would get this by all means.

I have explored African music pretty seriously in the past few years. Oumou Sangare is quickly becoming my favorite African artist. A great blend of traditional instruments, confident lead vocals, and wonderful backing vocals. I have not heard the original 3 albums separately from this collection, but there are NO songs to be missed on this set. I suspect that holds for all her recordings. If you like any African music at all, you must check out Oumou.

I've learned a lot about the traditional songs of Mali because of the insert of the CD collections. I've also learned what many of the words and combinations of words mean. I'm thankful for the english translation of the songs meanings which help me to understand my culture a lot more. Because many African Americans have not learned their ancestry they don't know the richness of West Africa. My maternal side is from Mali of the ethnic group of Bamana. They speak manding or some say mande. I love Omuou because her muisc has taught me many lessons. I am proud to say I am of Malian descent and will continue to seek enlightenment from the Girots and Songsbirds of Mali like Oumou Sangare.

OUMOU is a two-cd set tribute to the range of her skills: Oumou has been described as the 'songbird of Wassoulou', and is Mali's diva.
 Her roots lie in the musical traditions of Southern Mali, and her songs comment on social problems in women's lives as well as more universal metaphors of heroism and the human condition.