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Mory Kante
Sabou
The Guinean singer and kora player, veteren of some of western Africa's greatest bands (including the Rail Band in the early 70s) presents an all-acoustic tour-de-force in this 2004 release.
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| Back when 'world' music was a nipper, Mory Kanté created a stir on the Continent with 'Yéké Yéké', an electro-driven dance smash that updated a thousand years of West African minstrel tradition... Now, however, he has gone back to basics, with only electric bass acknowledging the world outside centuries-old Guinean music. And, it's a cracker, charging along on complex, tumbling rhythms played on kora (harp) and balafon (xylophone), with Kanté's soaring voice jousting joyously with his backing singers. Once upon a time, the singer was able to usurp the great Salif Keita as lead singer with Bamako's Super Rail Band, at last we get to discover why. - MOJO, UK |
Press from the label:
For Mory, being a griot has always been an integral part of his life and music, and Sabou unites his rich musical knowledge. Hailing from a long and gifted line of griots, he has always maintained a strong interest in continuing and developing griot traditions. A remarkably talented kora and balafon player with a powerful and distinctive voice, Mory was originally taught by his grandfather and went through his griot initiation when he was 15. He joined the Rail Band in 1971 and later moved to Abidjan and then Paris where he met with global success. Along the way he enthusiastically explored and mastered the numerous styles of music he encountered.
Sabou, by the legendary West African singer and kora player Mory Kanté, is an all-acoustic release by the first African artist to sell a million singles with ‘Yéké Yéké’, which topped the European charts in 1988. An exceptionally talented griot from Guinea in West Africa and a contemporary with Salif Keita in the Rail Band back in the 1970s, Mory Kanté has produced a stunning new album of depth and poise that is firmly grounded in his traditional griot roots. This eagerly anticipated new album sounds simultaneously contemporary and rootsy. Whipping up a clean and fresh sound, amazing balafon players stand out next to uplifting kora solos, with fantastic percussion and outstanding voices completing the mix, together creating a beautiful kaleidoscope of sound – Sabou is a must-hear album.
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