Djudjon: L’Oiseau de Garana
One World Records (61 mins)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba have been the world’s ambassadors for Bamana jeli (griot) ngoni music since their first album in 2007. Now on their sixth, they’ve dropped the band name in favour of further highlighting the wonderful jelimuso (and Bassekou’s wife) Amy Sacko. A slightly strange move, as the band are still here and Amy only sings on half the tracks. But never mind. Djudjon is a tribute to Bassekou’s hometown of Garana, Mali, and it shows the group at their most stripped-back: no ostentatious guest musicians, no effects pedals. It grants the listener space to appreciate the interweaving textures of the ensemble, Amy’s powerful and subtle voice, Bassekou’s nimbly virtuosic ngoni – and his occasional, innovative use of a bottleneck blues slide on his lute. Bassekou and Amy aren’t breaking any particularly new ground as they have done in the past, but this is still a lovely, solid set from the first family of Bamana ngoni.