Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Ba Power (Glitterbeat, 2015)
World music fans, in particular those fans of Mali’s Griot musical traditions, have fallen head over heels for riches found within the musical kaleidoscope of Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba and the 2007 release of Segu Blue, the 2010 release of I Speak Fula and their 2013 offering of Jama Ko. And now the horizon has just brightened with the May 12th release of Ba Power on the Glitterbeat label. Having flashed brilliance with their two years worldwide tour with the music of Jama Ko, Mr. Kouyate & Ngoni Ba is back to cast another musical spell with the sharp, soulful workings of Ba Power. But behind the lushness of music messages about the state of Mali, longing and homesickness and cautionary tales to Africa’s leaders so it comes as no surprise that Ba Power has a double meaning.
Mr. Kouyate explains the title, “’Ba,’ in Bambara means ‘strong’ or ‘great’ and it also means ‘group.’ I called the album Ba Power because I think the messages on it are very important and strong, and it is also definitely the album with the toughest sound I’ve ever made. I want these songs to grab as many people as possible.”
Taking lead on ngoni Mr. Kouyate is joined by Ngoni Ba members: ngoni player Abou Sissoko, bass ngoni player and vocalist Mamadou Kouyate, calabash player Moctar Kouyate, yabara, tamani and tamaba player Mahamadou Tonkara, ngoni ba player Bina Diabate, ngoni ba player Moustafa Kouyate and vocalist Amy Sacko. But Mr. Kouyate cleverly has enhanced his sound with guest artists like singers Zoumana Tereta, Adama Yalomba and Oumou Kouyate, drummer Dave Smith, kamala ngoni player Harouna Samake, electric guitarists Chris Brokaw and Samba Toure, trumpeter and keyboardist Jon Hassell, trumpeter David Jahr and acoustic guitarist and keyboardist Chris Eckman (who also acted as the producer along with Stephane Grimm). The layers of Ba Power are rich, impassioned and wholly incandescent.
Opening with the fiery “Siran Fen,” fans get a dose of that familiar kick ass ngoni combo edged with equally kick ass electric guitar, drums and vocals, before Ba Power slips into a tribute to women on “Musow Fanga (Power of Women).” Listeners get a taste of a rolling rhythm and intricately worked percussion on “Abe Sumaya” and the addictively lush “Aye Sira Bla” with its stunning vocals and edges of trumpet lines.
Ba Power kicks up the intensity with the quick work of “Waati” and Mr. Tereta’s vocals, hypnotic rhythms and guitar on “Fama Magni.” Equally delicious is the sweetly feel-good feel of “Te Dunia Laban” and closing track “Bassekouni” with its intricate ngoni lines and its spare percussion.
Masterfully potent and musically fierce, Ba Power is yet another gem for Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba.
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Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
