Category: 2015-2019

“Mon Chemin” (2017) – Bruce Cockburn * Written by Bruce Cockburn * Produced by Colin Linden * CD: Bone on Bone * Label: True North

His 25th album Bone on Bone really moves, with his chugging acoustic guitar upfront and no dirges. He’s still in self-evaluation mode, having just published an autobiography, but on this outing the ruminations growl. “Mon Chemin” (my road) is one of a handful of songs Bruce Cockburn has delivered in Quebecois over the decades. Radio programmers will need to take care and possibly drop the volume on the phrase putain de détours. That’s Bruce’s nephew John Aaron Cockburn singing harmony.

So arresting were the vocals of the Western Saharan Mariem Hassan that one needed no primer in her Hassaniyyan language to get the emotional message. Before she passed away in 2015, she had recorded this track (under the title “Tonight I Will Be Pretty”) for an album by Ravid Kahalani’s Yemen Blues. The version on her posthumous 2017 La Voz Indomita collection, though, strips away everything but the barest essentials—including her desert bird trills—and it’s a jewel.

It’s important to distinguish the instrument Abou Diarra plays as a kamale ngoni (or “hunter’s harp”), which is larger than the uke-size ngoni and probably more suitable for a “Jimi Hendrix of…” stage presence. An even larger harp called the donso ngoni would only anchor him down. The Malian prodigy learned how to play from the late master Vieux Kanté and with his third album Koya (named after his mother), he demonstrates the instrument’s flexibility and accessibility. Listen to “Koya Blues,” featuring Paris scenesters Vincent Bucher (harmonica) and Simon Winse (flute) and hear for yourself.

“Balaké” (2015) – Amadou Balaké * Traditional * LP: In Conclusion * Produced by Florent Mazzoleni * Label: Sterns Africa

The online bios all recycle the story of how the late Burkina Faso legend Amadou Traore named himself after a hit song called “Balaké,” which translates to “porcupine” in the mandika language. If he did record such a thing, good luck finding it—perhaps he made it with another group shortly before 1975, when his records started billing him as “Traore Amadou dit Ballaké.” Or maybe he adopted the name simply because “Balaké” is actually a traditional song that was already familiar to West Africans. In any case, Balaké, who passed away in 2014, left a legacy of diverse sounds incorporating upbeat warba and Mandé dance music, Cuban son montuno, charanga, and salsa. Adding him to playlists in today’s bubble-world climate would be good principle. His final recordings appeared in 2015 on an album called In Conclusion assembled by the Sterns Africa label, and among them, lo and behold, is a beautiful late-life rendering of “Balaké,” featuring voice, guitar, and ngoni, with nothing else.

Deolindo – “Canção Aranha” (2016) * Written by Pedro Da Silva Martins * LP: Outras Histórias * Produced by Deolinda and João Bessa

A “spider song” equating the musical webs that draw in listeners with the art of weaving social webs to ensnare lovers. The song’s melodic stickiness backs it up with thematic assurance. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Deolinda is a “new fado” band who draws from all of the fado genre’s familiar aural pleasures while veering away from its trademark melancholia. Outras Histórias is their fourth album.

“Miessemearkumat” (2016) – Ulla Pirttijärvi and Ulda * CD: Roijk * Label: Tuupa

The Sámi singer Ulla Pirttijärvi, based in Finland, began her recording career with the unison-voiced trio Angelin Tytöt (the girls from Angeli) and now performs with a group called Ulda. This track from their Roijk album combines her melodic joik singing (traditional Sámi chanting) with the organic instrumentation and grooves that make the whole thing special. She’s never had a band that complemented her so well before now. “Miessemearkumat” translates to “reindeer calf marking,” with the lyrics focusing on the July ritual of marking the ears of new calves with ancient family symbols before setting them loose to graze.

“Mekong Song” (2015) – Deltas * Written by Deltas * CD: Ligerian Blues * Label: Buda Musique

With their origins in Angers, France, the trio Deltas currently includes Vincent Erdeven (guitar), Richard Bourreau (violin/kora), and recent addition Andra Kouyate (ngoni/vocals), who’s from Mali. Their second album’s playful title Ligerian Blues, which Dylan McDonnell at RootsWorld calls a “seeming portmanteau of the Loire and Niger rivers,” also has the lion/tiger fusion thing going for it. But the river aspect is key, with the band’s own name and track titles like “Mekong Song” inviting us to hear the music as a willfully cross-cultural exercise.