Amonafi (Cumbancha, 2015)
Set for release on September 18th on the Cumbancha label, Amonafi is Mauritanian born and Senegal raised Daby Toure’s sweet, people-pleaser kind of album. Part singer-songwriter and part pop with an African flair, Amonafi is a pleasure trip into lighter fare of West African music. With recordings like Stereo Spirit (2008), Lang Age (2012), Diam (2010) and the 2014 offering Call My Name with Skip McDonald, Mr. Toure seeks to find that sweet spot with a global friendly sound with Amonafi.
Mr. Toure says of Amonafi, “Of course I carry Africa inside me, I sing in languages of West Africa: Fulani, Soninke, Wolof. But with this new album, I approach what I like most: soul, pop, music we can sing beyond borders.”
Deftly telling his own story of daily life in a village through song, it’s no surprise that Almonafi means “once upon a time” in the Wolof language. Marked by neat compositions and production with Mr. Toure on guitars, vocals, percussion, drums, bass and keyboards; Cyrille Dufay on production and keyboards on “Soninko;” Sylvain Gontard on trumpet, Benjamin Petit on sax and Philippe Georges on trombone, Amonafi has an easy feel-good feel to it with tight, neat vocals. Fans should certainly check out gems like opening track “Woyoyoye,” the soothing colored title track “Amonafi,” the vocals rich “Kiba” and “Khone.” There’s also the infectiously joyful “Kille” and the percussively packed and slickly worked “Debho” to please fans.
Amonafi isn’t just a sound landscape but also stands as a message recording with Mr. Toure’s lyrics pointedly seeking change. “Debho” is a tribute to the hard life of Africa’s women, while “Ndema” explores the hardships for those looking for work and “Kiba” is cautionary track about the migration of children from Africa.
Mr. Toure points out, “Each song is trying to tell you something, to bring you on a little voyage that permits you to take a little moment of meditation on each topic. I have known incredible people, incredible cultures. I am someone that is touched by humanity. I know what hunger is, I know what heat is, I know what pain is, I know what joy is, and I know what evolution is, and I know what energy can bring. And I also know that approaching people can change things in life.”
Amonafi proves to be an African inspired pleasure ride with a social conscience bite.
Buy Amonafi
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.
