"Yaw"

That Peter Gabriel would recently invite Daby Touré not only to open for his recent tour, but join him on stage to duet "In Your Eyes," is no surprise. In fact, Diam, his Real World debut, is so reminiscent - sometimes too reminiscent - of Youssou N'Dour you might never tell the difference. Yet there exists a youthful appeal to Touré making Diam a shining example of the younger generation pulling from heroes and tradition and stirring in new elements to push the folk forward.

Touré actually started out in Mauritania, a mid-size country (about three times the size of New Mexico) situated between Algeria, Mali and Senegal on the Atlantic Ocean. A barren terrain also touching the Western Sahara, Mauritania has suffered extended droughts and heated ethnic battles. The country is rich in music, as Touré's family proves - his father, Hamidou, and numerous uncles were all proficient players. As life has it, Hamidou would not allow Daby to play guitar until, upon selling his family home to tour himself in the great Senegalese band Touré Kunda, the son came to learn firsthand from papa what life in music was all about.

Landing in Paris at 18, the young Touré commenced his own journey, joining a cousin to create Touré Touré, an African jazz project he continued with until becoming discouraged at the industry demand for traditional African music. Daby wanted to explore his inspirations - The Police, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder - and went solo to do so. Ironically, Diam ("Peace") reflects little of this, the 13 tracks mostly acoustic-based singer/songwriter material. Touré's voice is strong enough to pull off such a quiet release, and while repetitiveness does arise in Diam's second half, the overall recording remains worthwhile and coherent.

Toure's best songs are the ones where he experiments most freely. "Yaw," a song of betrayal, with its cajon-led rhythm section and gorgeous guitar fingerpicking and "Kelimenta," a tale of youthful love featuring a melody of bluesy guitar and Indian tal, are highlights. The rest of the album stays rooted in folk lyricism, touching upon subjects like the importance of heritage, and the life of the shepherd. One hopes that Toure will experiment more in the future, for while his acoustic songwriting is solid enough to draw an audience, he is strongest when he takes chances. In retrospect, they probably won't seem like chances at all, but rather a young folk singer entranced by two worlds and courageous enough to navigate both.

Contributed by: Derek Beres for www.afropop.org