Folila

by Amadou & Mariam

Overview

On 2012's Folila (which translates as "music" in Bambara), Mali's famed Amadou & Mariam, the husband-and-wife duo, effortlessly prove that "purist" alarm calls about melding popular and traditional musics across geographies because they dilute authenticity are not only inherently false, but their motivations are suspect. Amadou & Mariam originally cut twin albums -- same songs, tunings, and tempos -- one in New York with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Santigold, Theophilus London, members of TV on the Radio and Antibalas, the Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears, and Bertrand Cantat. The other was a Malian offering, cut in Bamako with master musicians, including Bassekou Kouyate on ngoni, Zoumana Tereta on sokou, and Toumani Diabate on kora, to name a few. A possibility presented itself when they took the completed sessions to producer Marc-Antoine Moreau in Paris. He was asked to try to bring the albums together. Moreau enlisted other producer/engineers -- Kennie Takahashi, Renaud Letang, Josh Grant, and Antoine Halet -- to assist. The end result is an organic-sounding masterpiece of cross-cultural collaboration, sung in three languages -- Bambara, French, and English (sometimes in the same song). Production magic aside, this project wouldn't have succeeded were it not for truly amazing songs (written by the duo) and inspired performances by all the musicians. "Dougou Badia" features crunchy guitar interplay between Amadou's instantly recognizable percussive style and Zinner's more rockist attack; it's fuel for a soaring duet between Mariam and Santigold. "Wily Kataso" features Amadou & Mariam with Kyp and Tunde from TV on the Radio on lead vocals; the meld of the two guitarists with Kouyate's ngoni and the popping rhythm section is infectious. "Metemya" features Shears and Amadou's voices with the latter's knotty, raw guitar and Wurlitzer from Antibalas' Victor Axelrod amid layers of organic percussion. "Nebe Miri" features London rapping and singing in complement to Amadou's lead vocals, all drenched in a soulful meld of harmonies, three guitars, keyboards, and dundun drums. "C'est Pas Facile Pour les Aigles" is a rave-up that combines highlife, power pop, and Bo Diddley, and features Ebony Bones singing with Mariam. On "Sans Toi," Mali's traditional instruments such as sokou and kamale ngoni appear alongside guitar, piano, and the duo's hypnotic vocals. The haunting "Mogo" features bass clarinet, ngoni, djembe, dundun drums, and slide and rockist guitars and chants. "Cherie" is simply presented with Mariam above a Malian children's choir, with Diabate's kora adding a carefree rural feel to close it. Forget prejudices about "world music"; Folila is great music. Period. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	04/03/2012
Label:	Because Music
UPC:	0825646605729

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Amadou & Mariam   Primary Artist
Kyp   Primary Artist
Tunde Adebimpe   Featured Artist
Amp Fiddler   Keyboards,Featured Artist
Kyp Malone   Featured Artist
Stuart Bogie   Sax (Tenor)
Jordan McLean   Trumpet
Jared Tankel   Sax (Baritone)
Yvo Abadi   Bass,Drums,Percussion
Idrissa Soumaro   Organ,Piano
Sanogo Foussn   Doum-doum
Tomani Diabate   Kora
Tunde Adebamfe   Vocals
Vieux Dembele   Djembe
Tanti Kouate & Her Choir   Choir/Chorus
Nick Zinner   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Tunde   Featured Artist
Amadou Bagayoko   Guitar,Vocals,Guitar (Electric)
Mariam Doumbia   Vocals
Laurent Griffon   Bass
Victor Axelrod   Keyboards,Wurlitzer
Bassekou Kouyate   Ngoni
Jake Shears   Vocals,Featured Artist
Sidiki Diabate Sr.   Kora
Yao Dembele   Bass,Percussion
Boubacar Dembele   Congas,Djembe,Balafon,Doum-doum
Manjul   Percussion
Santigold   Vocals,Featured Artist
Antoine Halet   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic)
Bertrand Cantat   Guitar,Vocals,Doum-doum,Harmonica,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Theophilus London   Vocals,Featured Artist
Ebony Bones   Vocals,Featured Artist
Kip Malone   Vocals
Abdallah Oumbadougou   Vocals,Featured Artist
Ahmed Fofana   Bass,Flute,Keyboards
Baubacar Dembele   Djembe
Christophe Millot   Clarinet (Bass)

Technical Credits

Tunde Adebimpe   Composer
Amp Fiddler   Composer
Kyp Malone   Composer
Marc Antoine Moreau   A&R,Arranger,Composer,Producer
Thomas Moulin   Assistant
Josh Grant   Mixing,Engineer
Tunde Adebamfe   Composer
Amadou Bagayoko   Composer,Lyricist
Mariam Doumbia   Composer,Lyricist
Renaud Letang   Mixing
Tony Cousins   Mastering
Jake Shears   Composer
Benoit Peverelli   Photography
Santigold   Composer,Lyricist
Julien Bescond   A&R
Antoine Halet   Mixing,Engineer,Collaboration
Ken Takahashi   Mixing
Bertrand Cantat   Composer
Theophilus London   Composer
Francois Morel   Design
Ebony Bones   Composer
Kip Malone   Composer
Abdallah Oumbadougou   Composer