Kala Jula

In essence, this album by Malian griot Samba Diabate and Swiss world music specialist and multi-instrumentalist Vincent Zanetti is a friendly musical dialogue, on a variety of acoustic stringed instruments and percussion, that pays tribute to the nomadic cultures of Mali and to the spirit of adventure in general. The atmosphere is relaxed, the instruments are recorded with just the right degree of room sound, and the playing speaks volumes about the natural rapport between the two men. You can almost imagine them sitting cross-legged on the desert floor, a wood fire crackling between them, the stars twinkling above.

Some of these instrumentals are originals, others (to varying degrees) use traditional melodies or rhythms from Bambana, Wassoulou, Mandingo or other Malian cultures as a starting point. As well as the guitar, there’s prominent use of the ngoni (lute) and the fretless bass. But it took until the 12th track before I really started paying attention. ‘Dan Masa Wulamba’ is the only song featuring guest musician Yannick Barman on trumpet. Barman’s notes and squeals have been overdubbed to create a disconcertingly dissonant backdrop to Diabaté’s guitars and Zanetti’s percussion, before eventually settling into an almost New Orleans jazz feel towards the end. Given the number of albums around that feature the tasteful meeting of two acoustic instruments (usually one Western, the other African), one hopes that this duo will build on this slightly more experimental area, as it certainly ups the ante.