Tales Of Empire

Mandekalou II - The Art and Soul of the Mande Griots is a second volume follow up to the initial disk about which I have already posted. This second album is in exactly the same vein and could almost have been a double album with volume one, so I don't have much to add to what I wote in the previous post. It maybe worth a little quote from the booklet to remind of the context; "Mandekalou vol 2 is an ode to the legendary Mande Empire which stretched from Mauritania to the Ivory Coast, a symbol of the past glory of medieval Africa. Every day the Djelis have to learn more about their past and Mandekalou enables them to relive it 700 years on." The music is again totally acoustic with hypnotic guitar, kora and balafon combining over rhthmic percussion and setting the stage for the declamatory and dramatic singing style of the griots which could almost be likened to operatic recitative. A sizeable cast of members from famous griot clans such as Camara, Kante, Diabate and Sissoko contribute to a project that has proved to be most rewarding. The orchestra, for such it is, is conducted and led by guitarist Djelimady Tounkara who is perhaps the starriest name on offer in what is essentially an egalitarian enterprise.