309: Farima, by Bamba Wassoulou Groove

Bamba Wassoulou Groove (Mali)
Farima (2015)
11 tracks, 61 minutes
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Mali does guitars well. A list of great Malian guitarists would be as long as my leg, and there’s always forward-thinking young musicians just waiting to rise through the ranks too. It helps that there are so many different guitar styles in the country: there’s the Songhai blues of Ali Farka Touré, the Tuareg essouf of Tinariwen, the metropolitan funk of Amadou Bagayoko, the Cuban-influenced dance-band style of Djelimady Tounkara, the Afro-rock of the (confusingly-named, considering this list’s first entry) band Songhoy Blues, and on and on and on. One of the most exciting Malian guitar bands I’ve seen in the last few years play Wassoulou music from the south-west of the country. That band is – obviously, I mean, come on – Bamba Wassoulou Groove.

Bamba Wassoulou Groove are a spiritual continuation of the legendary Super Djata Band, which was fronted by guitarist Zani Diabaté. When Zani died in 2011, Super Djata percussionist Bamba Dembélé took on the role as bandleader of the reformed ensemble and continued the good work. Just because it was led by a percussionist doesn’t mean the guitar is any less front and centre, though. In fact, it makes up most of the sound.

On Farima, the defining sound is of its three guitars – two electrics (Baïni Diabaté and ex-Rail Band member Moussa Diabaté) and an electro-acoustic (Dramane Diarra); live they also play with a bass guitarist too. It works so well because each of them plays their own thing, and they all do it at the same time. Sometimes the parts can be as distinct as solo, riff and rhythm parts, but usually they’re all playing a different melody. It never sounds chaotic, however, because their lines interlock in the most satisfying ways. When they all hit that groove together, they can sound like one big, stringed balafon, an effect which is even more uncanny on the three tracks that actually feature a balafon.

That’s not the only instrument that is brought to mind by the technique of the guitars. The Wassoulou style is all based around the sound of the kamalengoni bridge-harp, which itself is evolved from the powerfully spiritual donsongoni, the hunter’s harp. These instruments have a very twangy, percussive sound, and although that distinctive timbre isn’t present in this line-up, the guitars settled into the riff provide the same driving and swinging backdrop that allows the singer to push onwards into different territories.

Mix those things up with healthy doses of rock, blues and Latin music, and Bamba Wassoulou Groove pick out a proper storm with a whirlwind of strings. There’s always more great Malian guitar music waiting to be heard and this group’s wonderful and classy take on Wassoulou music is no exception – if you’ve not experienced it before, you’re in for a treat.