Blick Bassy

Listening to Blick Bassy I get the feeling of an artist who is longing for something that is just outside our view; his voice is wistful and sweet with a slight quaver to long notes that is appealing rather than impressive.
When the music allows he sounds as though he is having a conversation with himself although there is never a sense that the listener is being excluded from something – more you are being asked your opinion.

The music itself is beautifully played and presented, aurally, as a garden of wind chimes and different scents. The kora and Ngoni are played with incredible delicacy and the calabash, tama and Cajon are played as proper supporting instruments rather than taking over and driving the music along.
The songs on the album are individual gems of melody and rhythm but they go together to create a piece that works on a variety of levels and which leaves the listener smiling and somehow fulfilled.
From the opener ‘Africa’ he is writing music to dance to but that will catch your ear and ask more questions of your heart than your ass and while it is possibly a criminal act NOT to dance to ‘Nlela’ and it will be a chance missed if you don’t have a close dance with someone to the magic of ‘Zappa’ it is also perfectly natural to just sit bask and bask in the loveliness of it all.

Blick Bassy is a real talent among the many talents emerging from Africa and there is much here to point to a bright future both for him and a world that can appreciate music like this.