Mezana Dounia
Author: Jim Hickson
View album and artist detailsAlbum and Artist Details
Artist/band: |
Massa Dembele |
Label: |
Izniz Records |
Magazine Review Date: |
October/2017 |
Massa Dembele is a jeli (griot) from Burkina Faso who plays the kamalengoni. It's a bridged harp-lute not dissimilar to the kora, but with significantly fewer strings and a more twangy sound. It's not a traditional instrument for a jeli, but in Dembele's hands, it sounds perfectly natural.
This album – and especially the title-track ‘Mezana Dounia’ – are lovely examples of Dembele's stripped-back, minimalist sound, often featuring just his multi-tracked and interlocking kamalengoni lines and haunting falsetto voice with occasional percussion.
There are guests on two pieces playing the balafon (wooden xylophone) and folikan (flute), both which like all else here, are used simply but effectively. But Dembele plays all of the other instruments on the album. While his skills as an instrumentalist are obvious, his real trade is his stories, so it's very useful that this release has gathered English translations of every song, available to view online. The songs – which are all self-penned – are tales of changing cultures, emotional ponderings on the modern world, and calls for social justice. This is a very short album, only just passing the half-hour mark, but it is nevertheless a very impressive debut from a musician putting his own spin on an ancient tradition.
This album – and especially the title-track ‘Mezana Dounia’ – are lovely examples of Dembele's stripped-back, minimalist sound, often featuring just his multi-tracked and interlocking kamalengoni lines and haunting falsetto voice with occasional percussion.
There are guests on two pieces playing the balafon (wooden xylophone) and folikan (flute), both which like all else here, are used simply but effectively. But Dembele plays all of the other instruments on the album. While his skills as an instrumentalist are obvious, his real trade is his stories, so it's very useful that this release has gathered English translations of every song, available to view online. The songs – which are all self-penned – are tales of changing cultures, emotional ponderings on the modern world, and calls for social justice. This is a very short album, only just passing the half-hour mark, but it is nevertheless a very impressive debut from a musician putting his own spin on an ancient tradition.
