Customer Reviews

Segu Blue

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

 

 

This is a gem.

Bassekou Kouyaté is Mali's leading player of the ngoni, a simple desert lute that looks like a stocky cricket bat.

It's West Africa's oldest string instrument and the ancestor of the banjo.

Cognocenti may know Kouyaté for his contributions to Ali Farka Touré's magnificent last album, "Savane", but here he's centre stage as leader of a ngoni quartet.

In a way it's possible to think of this as sophisticated chamber music with intricate lines delicately interweaving plus the female vocals of Ami Sacko and Zoumana Tereta.

One of the most gorgeous tracks is an instrumental with Toumani Diabate on kora even more entrancing than those Toumani did with Ali Farka Touré.

Laid-back music of the highest order.

For fans of the late Ali Farka Toure, Bassekou Kouyate's virtuous ngoni playing should not sound completely foreign, as he has appeared on quite a few songs on Toure's amazing posthumous album Savane. Some other familiar Malian musicians were also featured on this wonderful record, including kora player Toumani Diabete. These beautiful instruments provided an intricate, organic, and extremely beautiful backdrop to a variety of vocal styles. For fans of Malian music, this is especially a rare treat. Segu Blue calls to mind recordings of Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabete, and Amadou & Mariam, without resorting to simple imitation. From start to finish, Kouyate and his musicians managed to pull off an album that's both upbeat and melancholy, melodic and hypnotic, traditional and inventive. Everything including blues, a psychedelic jam session, and even an Asian sensibility are being evoked. In my opinion, this record should appeal to anyone who enjoys good and authentic music, period. Hopefully, US distribution will pickup so price will come down.

This record is outstanding. I don't know why it hasn't caught on as well as, say, Tinariwen or Salif Keita or Baaba Maal. Maybe these guys haven't been around as long as those others but they are, IMO, as good. That's high praise but they deserve it.

This group develops a warm, organic Afro-beat sound using solely acoustic instruments, as far as I can tell. The pieces have a hypnotic rhythm that is augmented by the rich vocal work (sometimes from female guest singers, other times from the men themselves). The songs seem to average four or five minutes in length but they are the kind of rolling, easygoing tunes that I wish went on forever. In spirit they remind me a bit of Tinariwen, if that means anything to you; they are kind of trance-inducing and dreamy, although the music is multilayered and complex and has, at times, a bite to it. Oh heck--listen to the samples! They describe themselves better than I can describe them. And the samples are perfectly accurate representations of the songs as a whole.

If you have any love of the artists I mentioned above, or others such as Rokia Traore, Pape and Cheikh, Ba Cissoko or Ali Farka Toure, I think you will enjoy this album immensely. Production values are excellent and the album, like most African pop records, is generous in its length (over 60 mins I think).

Highly recommended.

Makes current music coming out of the USA seem sour & stupid. This is joyeous, exquisite, energetic food for the soul and mind.

I just picked this album up at the group's concert in Ann Arbor Michigan, performing with banjo phenom Béla Fleck. The group was electrifying and, if anything, pushed Fleck's artistry ahead. I've listened to the album a few times and love it, but will look forward to catching them live as they have incredible presence and energy that is evident, but not quite as impressive, on the album. Still worth having, but catch them live if you can...

If you haven't caught the band live and have only listened to the album it would be like listening to an "unplugged" album and thinking that is what the artists were all about. I caught them when they toured with Fleck and at least the stage act I saw and heard there was a lot more emphasis on amps and an electrified version of the ngoni along with a lot more percussive drum work. Bassekou Koyate had a really impressive stage presence in those long flowing robes leaning out into the edge of the crowd like a rock god while Malians in the audience flung cash on the stage in the Malian tradition. One of the most memorable concerts I've ever been to. There's a whole different side to this group that the album fails to capture.

Excellent recording. Track 2 & track 7 is some of the best non-classical music I've ever heard. Great disc.

Bassekou Koyate & Ngoni took me away to mama Africa with Segu Blue. Just listening and reading the meanings of the songs took me away. When I heard Bala and read the story behind the song it made me proud to be Bambara. My ancestors the Traore family still live and thrive in Mali. I'm learning all about my heritage through song. I am so glad that I found my reason for being in my people of Segu. I wish they would come to the U.S.A. I would promote them with all my strenght. Blessed is the words that come out of the heart of Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.