Amadou & Mariam

25th January 2009

This post was written by Benji

posted in chicago bands, Uncategorized |

The hottest international act has created another masterpiece with Welcome to Mali, a tantalizing array of traditional-meets-rock tracks that will make you wonder how “the blind couple from Mali” actually made something so golden. It’s always hard to judge international acts on the same scale as domestic ones–you have to wonder if music is really that unique. And you have to wonder if positive results are due to honesty or for an appearance of multi-culturalism. I’m not accusing anybody, but you know who you are.

Nevertheless, I digress. It’s the mess of this political season–I have no reason but to listen to these two in a musical bungaloo of my own creation. They met in a school for the blind, two musical minds in search of drafting and crafting the perfect piece to the plexing puzzle. Damon Albarn-the ‘near’ to their ‘far’-does no harm here, infusing urgent rock into the lush instrumentation and smooth undulation of “Ce N’est Pa Bon”.

The high-octane “Compagnon De La Vie”, the satiating ballad “Bozos”, and the arching anthemic “I WIll Follow” area all complete delights. These songs are the comfort in your musical nights of uncertainty, your sonic rites of passage into the world of the world music genre.

So go and enjoy. Go on. Go. Buy a copy of Welcome to Mali.

Listen to “Compagnon De La Vie”

Listen to “Ce N’est Pa Bon”

**Props to my brother for showing me A & M a while back!

There is currently one response to “Amadou & Mariam”

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1 On January 26th, 2009, Chris said:
Hi Benjy,

Saw the Amadou post and wanted to send a not about the January 27 release of Asa, the self-titled debut from the artist French-born, Nigerian-raised Asa on Mercer Street Records, an imprint from Downtown Records. It would be great to have her included in any online posts. And if there is interest in a review, below is a link to stream and download the album. I can also send a copy.

There is a review on Huffington Post today: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/huffpost-review-asa—ema_b_160788.html
NPR Music’s “All Songs Considered” and People Magazine have recommended her politically charged song “Jailer.”

S

French born, but raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Asa has had great success in Africa and in Europe before her American release; She was awarded the Prix Constantine for the Best New French Artist of 2008.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/asaofficial
Official Page: http://www.naive.fr/sites/asa/?lang=en

I can send along a link to download if you are interested.

Best,

Chris

posted on January 26th, 2009 at 3:24 pm

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Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream will serve as a blog for me to share my thoughts and musings, with a special emphasis on music. The music that will appear in this blog is for evaluation/sampling purposes only, and is designed to promote up and coming bands. Remember, if you like the artist(s), buy the CD! If you are the owner of a sound file and would like it removed, please contact us and we will kindly take it down.

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