There is a mesmerizing aura in the voice of Fatumata Diawara. The Ivorian superheroine of Malian origin resumes her path of vindication and total music with “My London” and he does it by the hand of Damon Albarn, once again demonstrating that their partnership gives optimal results, crystallizing a symbiosis that sums up in a great way the meeting of two representatives of distant cultures.
Albarn co-produces the and credits six of the fourteen songs and contributes to a very easy-to-listen piece, not for simplicity’s sake, more because the different climates and also the large cast of guests are inviting. to a cultural journey of value.
The hard data that swears that Diawara was the first African woman to wear an electric guitar, that she ran away from her family home to Paris when she had decided on her marriage or that she managed to find the way that listeners from all over the world were interested in her. Wassoulou’s music makes total sense when in this, her third album, the singer and actress pours out all her talent and artistic vision, an exact mixture of struggle and beauty.
To confirm it, it is enough to admire the Latin verve of “Blues” together with Roberto Fonseca or the organic groove of “It’s a visit” that brings to mind the great Tony Allen, while Albarn finds the right notes to click on the heart of who presses play.
The mythical and also a forerunner, in this case in hip hop, Angie Stone, puts her mark on the suggestive and emotional “Somaw”, marking a chorus that testifies that, as the Chemical Brothers said, everything “It started in Africa.” Frenchman -M- brings his pop sensibility to “Seven” (with extra merit: the song addresses the issue of female genital mutilation) and the electronic crescendo of “Mass It”. M.anifest, the Ghanaian rapper that many of us met as part of that Rocket Juice and The Moon album, the instant supergroup of Albarn, Allen and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, adds urban atmosphere (in the sense in which this phrase was used word in the 90s) to “Strike”.
But this is not just an album of collaborations since the “solo” songs on the album also give a lot: Moussoya It is a monument to sweetness with a children’s choir included, “Netra” plays with soul à la Sade, to later impose its autochthonous character, “Yada” adds rhythmic pep and luscious guitar solo and “Maya” bids us farewell “My London” with Albarn’s piano and Diawara’s voice twinning in a melody of a level of beauty much needed today.