Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck
Djam Leelii

THE REVIEW

In the medieval times, most of the gold circulating in the old continent came from the course of the Senegal River. Centuries later, the same region mainly exports groups of young men seeking a future far from poverty. And it is the culture of these young men that enriches Europe this time.

Baaba Maal was living in France when he called his childhood friend Mansour Seck from their homeland to record this work together. And along with the griots' mastery in the tracks of "Djam Leelii," one can perceive the boundless nostalgia that grips you tightly when you are separated from your land, torn from your roots.

In "Djam Leelii" a pure beauty can be felt, which cradles us through the immensity of the African starry night. Notes that seem to chase all the evil from the world. Songs suspended between a primordial joy and a barely hinted melancholy, but all united by a breath of spirituality that fills the soul. It's surprising that the two managed to create a sound so full of nuances and flavors using nothing but two guitars that overlap, dialogue, and weave intricate patterns that seem to merge together, with only vague hints of percussion enriching an already complete musical picture. And then, a voice loaded with overflowing passion that speaks the universal language of feeling.

To cite some tracks at the expense of others is as useless as it is unfair. The entire album is a flow, a sensory experience to be savored without interruption. It is guaranteed that you too, once this journey is over, will be left with an indescribable lump in your throat: it is the African fever.