Djam Leelii

Interesting album; I’m always happy when the generator gives me some world music I’ve never heard before. That said, I wanted to enjoy this more than I did, but the tracks were rather repetitive and similar sounding, so it was dragging a bit by the end.

I think this just wasn't for me.

I like this artist but maybe not 67 minutes’ worth

I can normally admire World albums and stuff from Senegal, but this didn't really do the trick for me. It's quite a long sit at an almost full CD length. Besides that it's also quite a monotonous one with a lot of the songs just sounding very similar. Songs don't really go anywhere either. There were a few I liked in the middle but I don't think I'd revisit this over an Ali Farka Toure or something.

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all right but too long and too static. there’s better west african guitar music

pretty, but kinda boring. there had to have been more exciting senegalese projects for the list

Nice groovesly music! Would listen again :)

I'm going out on a limb by saying this is a perfect album. I know almost nothing about Senegalese music, so my frame of reference lacks a lot of context. But I first heard Baaba Maal about 5 years ago and his playing completely blew me away. This music totally changed how I understand the guitar as an instrument and how it can be used to create ambient textures. Also, I think Baaba Maal does a good job of conveying how the blues is a transatlantic phenomenon.

Some interesting musical explorations around droning, repetitive patterns. Not much to hate or love beyond that for me, since I had no real entry into anything deeper than the notes and rhythms.

Quite groovy to listen to! I do relate to some of the critique that it gets a bit long and the quasi-religious chanting gets a bit too much after a while. But I've heard far worse in this challenge.

At some point this music blends into time and space to the point where you don't give a fuck anymore and you're just dying for this to be over with but it can't ever end and you have to keep hearing instrumental songs that sound kind of different but not very different

This was an absolute surprise, but Djam Leelii is damn near flawless. This is basically some very sparse (but deceptively intricate), hypnotic music with intense, unique vocals. These are all components I gel with *very* well, and Djam Leelii actually reminds me of some of Songs:Ohia's most ethereal moments. In short, we're off to a good start. These are largely very repetitive songs, but on a moment to moment basis, the instruments are in constant conversation with each other, in a very striking, organic way. The result is that these songs have a lot of movement and depth, despite the repetition. There are some moments where the two guitars here meld in such a way with the percussion here that the result is utterly dizzying. Melodies and rhythms overlay each other, weave in and out, and remain in a state of constant push and pull, but the vocals can always cut through. I don't know a ton about Baaba Maal, but I do know that he sought to serve as a living reminder of how storytelling is for everyone, and not just the Griot class of people which exists within his culture, and I absolutely appreciate this message, especially over music as spellbinding as this. And despite the fact that I am awfully distant from Senegal, the art here has managed to touch me as many of my favorite albums have. This one is really special.

I love the contrast of the static meditative instrumentation with the soulful vocals.

prošli album ovog lika malo me bio smorio, ovaj pak (ranije objavljen i u suradnji s još jednim likom) bio mi je sasvim solidan i nemam mu što zamjeriti, ugodno ali ne pretjerano zanimljivo slušanje. prosječna trojka

Glad I heard this, but not something I will be revisiting. Not every song here needed to be six minutes long. I’m sure if I spoke the language I might get more out of this, but as it is I think this can be repetitive. I think the song Kettodee was solid and had a nice instrumental.

The kind of album I do this project for -- would have never known about it. Sounded very medieval-folksy. I don't think I'll revisit, but I enjoyed it.

I much preferred this album to Baaba Maal’s Lam Toro. Keeping everything to more traditional instrumentation makes much more emotional sense to me, making the most of these adapted African folk genres. It's a very hypnotic, chilled out performance with commanding, sometimes spine tingling vocals.

Solid music - the guitars sound very "deep" and I can't explain it better than that. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

All the famous sounds of the Sahel are here - the mesmerizing repetitions and flourishes of the kora, the trancey polyrythms of layered percussion, the call and response vocals, the bouncey balafon. It's a meditative - pairing loops and variations constantly iterating and articulating, building light dissonance and gentle tension that ebbs away rather than peaking. The genre has been saturated and somewhat homogoneized and stagnated in the decades since by the Putomayo/Rough Guide/WOMAD world music institutions, that have turned it into a middle class object of cosmopolitan conspicuous consumption, but this is still a nice capture of the sound.