Salif Keita – M’Bemba [Ancestor] (Universal Jazz, 2005)
Salif Keita’s Soro is one of the few Afro-fusion releases to truly cross over into the mainstream.
Soro led the way for a thousand inferior efforts, not least from the great man himself. It came as a joy to many of us, therefore, when Salif released 2003’s
Moffou which featured a return-to-roots approach bringing in a far more powerful element of African acoustic instrumentation and a set of tunes just built for the regal singer’s majestic voice.
M’bemba (ancestor) takes that theme and develops it along much the same lines but with a richer tapestry of sounds and a proper home-grown recording, based back home in Bamako where his music is fully understood. Not wishing to mess too much with a successful formula Keita has opted once again to work with the great guitarist/arranger Kanté Manfila whose own more recent work (for example Kankan Blues) has driven much of the resurgence ofinterest in roots-styled sounds. Another inspired choice was to draft in one of West African music’s finest backroom boys, the Guinean guitarist, former Ambassadeur and guitarist on that memorable Soro, Ousmane Kouyaté, whose focused, rhythmic, looping guitar sounds provide the basis for many of the tunes on M’bemba.
The album’s title is very apt, as the song of the same name pays tribute to one of Keita’s most revered ancestors and founder of the mighty Mande Empire eight hundred years ago, the illustrious Sundiata Keita.
M’bemba is the pivot around which the rest of the album revolves, its potent chorus and fabulously powerful lead performance ring in the ears and in the mind long after it’s finished, leaving one with the distinct impression of having been in the presence of royalty. This and other tunes, like the endlessly rolling, open vista’d Kamoukie benefit from the participation of a who’s who of West African music from the past 30 years – including the globally-famous griot Toumani Diabate and another griot known for his collaborative works, Djeli Moussa Kouyate.
M’Bemba sets a new standard in classic West African fusion which even
the great Salif himself will find hard to match.
Buy M’bemba.
Author: Dave Atkin
