David Dalle
Thursday August 28th, 2025 with David Dalle
More glorious Mandé singing from Mali with Mah Damba; Bartok; Swedish-Scottish-Irish folk music; Klezmer

When I picked up the new album by Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, which we heard last week, I also noticed an album by another fabulous Malian singer, Mah Damba. We have heard her often on my show, but she had gone quiet since her husband, and musical partner on the ngoni, Mamaye Kouyaté died in 2009. I had not realized she had released an album a decade later in 2019, "Hakili Kélé". Mah Damba has lived in France since 1983, and she is very popular with the Malian expat community, as well as back in Mali. Living in France has given her opportunities to interact with musicians from other traditions. One of them is guitarist Thierry Fournel, with whom she has collaborated for over 20 years. He encouraged her to return to music after her self-imposed silence, and she did, recording this amazing new album. He co-curated part of the repertoire, and made the arrangements "that allow us to identify a diversity of moods--lively rhythms, playful melodies, but also more settled moments, more abstract passages--which, again highlight all the brilliance of this unique voice." At Fournel's suggestion, Mah Damba explores different scales, unusual in her tradition. The result is the eleven tracks on this album form a suite. Despite the differences from tradition, and some unusual instruments such as accordeon and guimbri, I would not call this "fusion", as the respect for Mandé tradition is so strong. She is joined by Makan Tounkara and Digui Tounkara on ngonis, Guimba Kouyaté on guitar, Bakary Diarra on balafon, and backing female vocals from French-Malian singers. We will listen to the whole album as the suite it is intended to be.