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Djelimady Tounkara
Solon Kono (Marabi)
17.99
One of the great Malian guitarists, Tounkara began his career with the district band Pioneer Jazz in the Missira area of Bamako and then helped establish Super Rail Band, the band the started the careers of Salif Keita and Mory Kante, with whom he appears to this day. His second 'solo' recording features some of Bamako's hottest young musicians. Tounkara gives free reign to his improvisational talents on acoustic guitar (as well as on electric guitar on two pieces) in subtle and elegant style. With Samba Diabate on guitar, Mariam 'M'Bau' Tounkara, Mariam 'Djodjo' Diabate, Samba Sissoko and Mountaga Diabate on vocals, they rock in that unique African way. For Super Rail Band fans, there is a glowing version of the Mory Kante classic 'Sarankegni.'
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Listen:
Fanta Bourama
Ikadigne
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Djelimady Tounkara is one of the great and good of Malian guitar music. If Ali Farka Toure is Mali's John Lee Hooker, then Tounkara is more their Jim Hall or Richard Thompson, with a decorous and sparkling style that is always inventive and surprising, however traditional the context... For this relaxed, mainly acoustic set of mid-tempo songs Tounkara is joined by several percussionists, plus rhythm guitarist Samba Diabaté and Sékou Kanté on acoustic bass guitar, which adds a lovely quietitude to the bottom end. Several singers contribue vocals, solo or in chorus, including Mountaga Diabaté and Mariam M'Baou Tounkara, the guitarist's youngest daughter.
Yet Tounkara's guitar is never far from the foreground, always with a dazzling opening line. Ikadigné condemns forced weddings; M'Bématoma tells us to heed our parents' advice; Sarankégni, a traditional tale embroidered with intricate electric guitar, is also about arranged marriages, while Kanougnogon says "Love must not be based on money or material goods." The vocals and "message" songs make Solon Kono a rich and attractive album, but the main attraction is always Tounkara's melodic virtuosity on a regular six-string guitar. - The Guardian, UK
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