#baabamaal

Yoga in the arboretum Here are the sketches I did on our last day at Womad. The first was done while my wife and daughter did yoga in the Arboretum (the festival is held in the grounds of Charlton Park, in Wiltshire). In another area, some of us joined ‘Sew-mad’ – where people were sewing bunting (along the theme of the cosmos?) and I did my second sketch. The third sketch was done at the “Taste…

If you’re a sucker for some sunny African harmonies packaged in way digestable for an European, like I am, then you are going to like this one.

This EP is a product of collabaration between British band Mumford & Sons, the Senegalese singer Baaba Maal, Cape Town based group Beatenberg, and Malawian-British singer-producer project The Very Best. It was recorded during the Mumford & Sons's South African tour in  in early 2016. The project was conceived and recorded in Johannesburg and naming the uniquely sounding album was a no-brainer.

Incorporating a number of traditional instruments and 5 languages (English, French, Wolof and Pulaar from Senegal and Chichewa from Malawi) the minialbum is joyful a rich blend of folk sounds and African rhythms. It overflows with beautiful vocal harmonies, be it between Marcus Mumford and Matt Field (Beatenberg) or Marcus Mumford and Maal. Hearing this record It’s quite hard not to think of Paul Simon’s Graceland album.

My favourite song on the EP is Ngamila. It song that starts in a delicate soft place and then builds up dramatically to loud passionate chorus. I find this one to be the best crafted song from the album.

The songs Wona and Fool You‘ve Landed are the most mainstream and poppy songs on the record and build on strong Afropop guitar lines. Wona features vocals from all bands and artists involved. On Fool you’ve landed we hear only the vocals of Marcus Mumford and Matt Field (Beatenberg). Matt and Beatenberg soften each of the songs they’re on and bring a bit of lightgheartedness.

Si Tu Vieux is a song filled with a sonic tension. It’s unfamiliar and yet simultaneously calming. And similarly fo Ngamila (and lot of other Mumford and Sons songs, thb), it also follows a dramatical builds-up pattern. It features Baaba Maals best vocals on this record. It’s a calming, freeing song .

The album was concieved within a space of few days and it could do with a little bit more time. Some of the songs feel a bit unpolished, like a good draft that could be improved and tweeked into something magnificient, but the authors have run out of time. The single There Will Be Time, definitely feels like that. But overall, the recird is defnitely worth checking out, at least for the good blend of folk sounds and African rhythms.

Happy Thursday, relax and enjoy.

Album highlights: - Wona - Fool You‘ve Landed - Ngamila - Si Tu Vieux

Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3bB5lH7