Sigil

love it !!!

It's quite a naively titled genre, World Music. There is such a depth of diversity that our 'Western Music' with it's multiple categories and sub-categories seems rather shallow. Nuru Kane's Sigil is one album in a sea of traditonally-influenced, verging on contemporary, richly tapestry-like West African music. I saw Nuru Kane and the band he works with, Bayefall Gnawa, at a festival. They performed with the energy of a hunt, the passion of new lovers and the precision and musicality of the lead violin in London Philarmonic. Their stage presence was such that we became largely unaware of the stage, just captivated by these characters and their sounds and selves. I bought the album, mainly to remind me of this moment but have found it has its own place of reverence, seperate from the memory of a performance (memories can often induce a rose-tinted reaction). The album stands on its own merits, has enough differences from th live show to detach from it, and is my favourite album of 2006. I longed for the brilliance of more established artists such as Ali Farka Toure to knock it off the top spot, but the strength and reslience in this album has stood firm. There's even a huge slice of 'cool', that makes you want to turn it up and drive round town saying "check out what I'm listening to!"

Nuru Kane for several years has been a hidden gem of the French and U.K. music scenes -- now his songs are finally available on CD. This album should appeal to people who already know other top West African performers -- such as Orchestra Baobab, Cheikh Lo, and Youssou N'Dour -- and others who are looking for an introduction to lively and often deep West African music. The album includes a range of music, from the blues-inspired Goree to the more pop-ish Diarama.