Search - Mama Sissoko :: Soleil De Minuit

With guitar prowess similar to fellow Mali musician Habib Koite and melodic detail akin to Zimbabwe's Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi, Mama Sissoko offers up Soleil de Minuit, a gorgeous collection of songs. A combination of blues, jazz, and pop, the highly skilled Sissoko knows when not to play, elsewhere giving the music a voice through tasteful and pliant guitar work. His vocals are smoky, rough-hewn, and expressive, and particularly effective on songs such as the earthy ballad "Manssane Cisse" and the street party/uprising vibe of "Commissariat." A sublime assemblage of backing vocals, complementary rhythm guitars, bass, drums, and percussion provides the framework for Sissoko's lead guitar to carve out the album's through-line with repetitive lines and motifs, a beguiling tonality, and a distinctly Afro-Parisian sophistication. --Paige La Grone