"Guitar Fo"

If you listened to Bembeya Jazz's long-overdue 2003 comeback album, Bembeya, and said, "But I need more of that unbelievable guitar playing from Diamond Fingers," then this is the album you've been waiting for. These 11 tracks showcase many different aspects of one of West Africa's absolute top guitarists, from raging electric Manding pop ("Guitar Fö") to an elegant, jazzy solo piece played on classical guitar ("Mohamed Diabaté"). In contrast to solo projects by the West African guitarist Diabaté inevitably gets compared with--Djelimady Tounkara of Mali--this album mostly lets the guitar shine, keeping the vocals that are so central to most Manding recordings largely off stage. When there is singing, Diabaté does most of it himself.

"Biduman" kicks things off with a classic, cycling Manding riff that tumbles into an animated rumba shuffle with light percussion backing, not a whole band--old school--and that sounds sets the tone for the whole album. Then the man they call Diamond Fingers' unmistakable guitar phrasing comes in, but he's playing on a nylon-string, acoustic guitar. This is the guitar Diabaté plays at home, and as far as we know, this is the first time he's extensively featured the sound in a recording. He continues in this vein on a smoldering ballad called "Bala Koura." Then on the beautiful, expansive "Dabia Baba," a tribute to Malian businessmen and patron of many modern griots, Babani Sissoko, Diabaté at last lets loose with his signature electric sound. Pure fire!

Many of these tracks are mid-tempo or even slow, giving Diabaté's guitar ample room to stretch out and sing. "Guitar Fo" and "Diamond Fingers" are the real show-stoppers here. The latter, a dark, Manding steamer, has been part of Bembeya Jazz's live show for years, and both these pieces pour forth from Diabaté's hands with ease and polish that comes only from countless performances. There's a strain of gushing romanticism in Diabaté's playing, and it works best in darker, minor key pieces like this where the moody music grounds his sensuous flights in earthy grit.

Only on the fourth track, "Ikanam Minala," do vocals enter the mix. Diabaté is not blessed with a particularly lovely voice, and on two of the three vocal pieces on this album, he is joined by a jelimouso (female griot) named Safiata Condé. This works reasonably well once, but when we get to "Dianamo," a ballad that asks too much of Diabaté's limited voice, one wishes he had resisted. His vocal works best in the final section of "Diamond Fingers," in which he resorts to a playful growl reminiscent of Louis Armstrong, or more aptly, Diabaté's late countryman, Momo Wandel Soumah. Here, character rather than technique comes through, and that is something Diabaté has in spades, whether singing or playing.

Not enough African guitarists make albums that really put the focus on their musicianship, so hats off to a great axeman for letting us experience his mastery in such healthy portions. We need more albums like this.

Contributed by: Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org