CD Reviews

Famoro Dioubate’s Kakande

Dununya | Jumbie

By BANNING EYRE | February 12, 2008

3.0 Stars

Famoro Dioubate is the latest star to emerge from New York’s community of West African, and particularly Mande, musicians. He’s a world-class balafon (wooden xylophone) player who can unleash dizzying swirls of melody — a sound that is the backbone of both traditional and popular music in his native Guinea. Kakande boast musicians from Guinea, the US, and Canada, but the anchor is Dioubate’s nimble riffing and powerful praise singing, as well as the vocal fireworks unleashed by Missia Saran Dioubate, a bona fide Mande diva. Kakande offer a new take on grooves and chord progressions already popularized by the Rail Band, Bembeya Jazz, Salif Keita, Toumani Diabate, and other Mande talents. Here the balafon rules, supported by a sweet blend of electric guitar (Mamady Kouyate), cello (Raoul Rothblatt), flute (Sylvain Leroux), and sax (Avram Fefer). The support players step out on occasion, but they mostly hang with the crisp rhythm section, creating textures that work as well in a dark, roiling jam like “Paya Paya” as on a slow, mellifluous praise song like “Mariama Traoré.” The inventive instrumental and choral arrangements add freshness without denaturing the music’s inherent roots appeal.

Famoro Dioubate’s Kakande + Mory Kante | Johnny D’s, 17 Holland Street, Somerville | February 21 | 617.776.2004

Gorillaz at the Apollo
Animated sans animation
How it's done
Jonathan McPhee and the Longwood Symphony perform Beethoven's Ninth
No stuffed shirts, please
Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten, Symphony Hall, April 15, 2007
More

Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment , Music , Salif Keita , More

Comments

Add a Comment

ARTICLES BY BANNING EYRE

PAN-AFRICAN | June 17, 2008
Made In Dakar | Nonesuch

CARRYING ON | April 01, 2008
Andy Palacio’s gang regroup

DEBASHISH BHATTACHARYA | April 01, 2008
Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey

FAMORO DIOUBATE’S KAKANDE | February 12, 2008
Dununya | Jumbie

APHRODESIA | January 23, 2008
Lagos by Bus | Cyberset

See all articles by: BANNING EYRE

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

BULL DISCLOSURE
As the candidates prep for the final debate, it’s a fitting time to ask: why do some journalistic conflicts of interest become scandals, while others get almost no attention at all?

ROLLED
Where’s the outrage over media mistreatment at the RNC?

SCHLEPPING FOR OBAMA
The Boston roots of Sarah Silverman's Jewbama crusade

HOT LOVE
Taste the flames inside Boston's secret world of fire artists

FINANCIAL FALLOUT
The devastating wall street crisis has a potential silver lining — if you’re a Massachusetts politician looking for a foothold

BULL DISCLOSURE
As the candidates prep for the final debate, it’s a fitting time to ask: why do some journalistic conflicts of interest become scandals, while others get almost no attention at all?