Kouyate-Neerman

This is what you get when you let a vibraphone genius like David Neerman – a man equally comfortable with Sonic Youth or contemporary Jazz – and a Malian Balofon prodigy loose without the strictures of their own home music. Absolute poetry in music!

Vibraphone and Balafon both seem to originate from a similar source but the way they are played is completely different and the contrasting styles create a wonderfully complex and dense set of poly-rhythms.

On ‘Here’ they skitter around each other as if playing a game of musical tag, first one taking the lead and then the other and both rich in tone and setting traps for the other. A conventional drum keeps the rhythm on ‘Dianfa Magni’ and this frees the two instruments to speed up the game and talk in a more conventional language – the drumming is rather one-paced and leaden but the two leads almost counteract this – I would love to hear what it was like without the drums in the mix.
‘Niokome’ shows the ability of the vibes to bend notes and produce a more rocky impression but the Balafon shimmers and answers the power with a subtle drip, drip, drip of its own and the end result is something much more than the sum of the parts. The delicious purity of ‘Boloba’ has a jazz like quality while ‘Tiziri’ is filled with mystery and questions.
‘Touma’ opens with Ira Coleman’s bass and Laurent Robin’s drumming but the track really comes alive with Mamani Keita’s vocals – keening and high and set against what sounds like an Ngoni.
'Kanga Dub' suggests that the dub format could be a whole new direction - a real blast of excess and great fun.

This album has the feel of rewarding regular and intense listening as the best music does – a joy and all the better for being unexpected.