One of the greatest living voices in Manding music has so far been virtually unknown to listeners outside West Africa. Kandia Kouyate traveled widely with the Africa Oye tour of 1988, and no one who saw one of those shows will forget her sensational contralto voice. But since then, Kandia's few recordings have been released only as cassettes in West Africa. For years, she resisted pleas to make a state-of-the-art recording of her work. As such, Kita Kan represents Kandia's overdue calling card to the world. Mali's Manding griots have produced some of the most riveting female vocalists in Africa, indeed, the world, but one listen to this CD's opening track, "Doninke," should establish Kandia's position in the very highest echelon. The song is Kandia's version of the griot standard "Diawura," and she shapes it with flawless arrangement of acoustic instruments--principally balafon, ngoni, kora, and guitar--and with the breathtaking robustness of her voice. The mere fact of putting that voice near a good microphone makes this release newsworthy, but not content with that, Kandia has made a pathbreaking record.
Some have compared Manding griot music to Western classical music for its refinement and complexity. But Kandia is the first to record her version of "Sunjata," the song for the 13th century Manding king, with a 46-strong violin section. The result, the song "Mandenkalou," is serene, dignified and uniquely beautiful. Some of the tracks adapt the conventions of today's griot pop, with punchy rhythms, boiling electric guitar ostinatos, and horn section passages reminiscent of the Super Rail Band of Bamako, pioneers of the "Manding swing" sound. But each song here is different, tradition being the common element. When Kandia pares down to the Manding court instruments, she delivers the requisite hypnotic weave and electrifying vocal work, as well as anyone has. Two pentatonic Bambara tracks fill out the collection with a soulful departure from the grandiosity of Manding music. If Kandia never recorded again, she would have made one for the ages here, but luckily for us, she is young, and now that she has overcome her hesitancy about the studio, we can hope for more.
One of the greatest living voices in Manding music has so far been virtually unknown to listeners outside West Africa. Kandia Kouyate traveled widely with the Africa Oye tour of 1988, and no one who saw one of those shows will forget her sensational contralto voice. But since then, Kandia's few recordings have been released only as cassettes in West Africa. For years, she resisted pleas to make a state-of-the-art recording of her work. As such, Kita Kan represents Kandia's overdue calling card to the world. Mali's Manding griots have produced some of the most riveting female vocalists in Africa, indeed, the world, but one listen to this CD's opening track, "Doninke," should establish Kandia's position in the very highest echelon. The song is Kandia's version of the griot standard "Diawura," and she shapes it with flawless arrangement of acoustic instruments--principally balafon, ngoni, kora, and guitar--and with the breathtaking robustness of her voice. The mere fact of putting that voice near a good microphone makes this release newsworthy, but not content with that, Kandia has made a pathbreaking record.
