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Boubacar Traore
Mariama
$13.99
A nicely priced reissue of the classic acoustic guitar sound of Mali, by the grand old man of the music.
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See also: je chanterai pour toi (I'll sing for you)
His recordings get regular comaprisons to Robert Johnson and country blues in general, but what I most notice is the similarity to the sonarities of Appalachian and old country music; pure, plaintive and unadorned, he only lacks a train in the background to invoke the spirit of Jimmy Rodgers. He also reveals the depth and diversity of sounds possible on an unamplified, unprepared acoustic guitar. There is the click of the fingernail, the brush of the thumb on the bass lines, the harmonics, the scrape of skin over string, and the ringing of the high-pitches behind the frets, sounding like a small ensemble of subtle touches, alluding to without ever quoting the kora and the calabash. Traoré's singing is even more plaintive, his voice on the verge, but never breaking, as he tells the same stories told for centuries around the world. "I'd rather die than live without you." "Baby please don't go." "Been all 'round this world." "Death, oh death, I cannot escape you." These themes have nothing to do with a specific place like Africa, and this music is not only African. Boubacar Traoré, like Johnson, Rodgers, and Ali Farka Toure, is universal, and simply wonderful. In my review of an earlier album I referred to him a one of Mali's national treasures. Make that one of the world's. - CF
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Please note!
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imported from Europe or Asia.
They are not all
shrink-wrapped, and I am not
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here just to make you think they
have been sterilized in America.
We guarantee that the CDs and the
contents are all brand new and in
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can, I use recycled shipping
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money and keep the trash dumps a
little bit emptier.
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