My daughter gave me this for Christmas and I've played it through three or four times now. It's very hard to take it off the turntable. It's an easy record to love - the sounds and presentation are very attractive.
The back story is that British musician and producer Huw Bennett went to Gambia in search of inspiration (as you do) and was shown great hospitality by the Mandinka Griots. (The cynic in me is imagining the scene along the lines of: "Here we go. Another honky looking for a bit of validation. Bless him. Shall we be nice to him? Yeah, OK." - I'm sure it wasn't like that at all, but I must have my little joke.)
So: ngonis, balafons, koras galore. Beautifully played and recorded, as you'd expect, with a gentle and subtle bass and drum and texture added by Bennett.
Ye good old Cultural Colonialism Blues? Not really. This is as genuine a collaboration as you can get. Bennett has left in several spoken section where the Gambian musicians explain what they're doing and the sleeve notes are also very informative. In fact, you could say this is a new way of doing what the likes of Transglobal Underground were doing in the 90's. The respect for the traditional music is palpable, but not stifling. This is a record for dancing to, not studying - although you can study it if you want. The music itself is gorgeous. The textures and timbres just impossible to resist. It's a little odd that the first full length track - "Mamadou" - also has the most radical production. It sort of shimmers psychedelically at you, making me wonder if there was something up with the pressing, but it wins you over after a minute or two. I would have put it last but I guess Bennett knows what he's doing.
This is a lovely record. Highly recommended to old World Music heads such as can be occasionally found still frequenting this forum. It's a new day, folks. The kids are grooving on it.
https://www.soundwayrecords.com/Shop/Do ... SWR_RE_113