Djam Leelii

Enjoyable enough. Would love if it had been mastered a bit better. I'm not too picky but it felt like there was a good bit of talent lost to poor recording here.

Het eerste nummer heeft de gitaarmelodie van ouderwetse rock. Het gaat an sich prima samen met de zang in het pulaar. Enige punt is dat het nogal veel van het zelfde is. Nou ja, dat kan één nummer natuurlijk. Maar het hele album? Dat is wel erg eentonig. Nee, na het eerste nummer kom ik al snel tot het oordeel: slaapplaat.

Phew. The "World" genre apparently refers to music that’s very African, Middle Eastern, or Indian. I might listen to one or two tracks from it. A whole album is too much for me. It might be great music, and the influences on "my" music are very important. But I just can’t get into it. 1/5

Nice African sounds

Guitar riffs were very repetitive.

Significantly worse than Lam Toro in my opinion. Far too meandering and sleepy.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

this is a fantastic listen. it starts dragging a bit if you listen to the re-release with four additional tracks but if you stop after the original eight you wont be disappointed. that said i do recommend checking out those additional tracks at some point because they are really good.

Did I need to listen to this before I died? No, but it was net positive experience. The sounds that this style produces is absolutely wonderful for starters, but it falls short for the fact that it tends to get very repetitive for every track being 6+ minutes. The tone of the guitar is luscious, and how it combines with the melodic percussion ends up outstanding. Mansour Seck is a phenomenal guitarist, and his style was a joy to hear. The vocals are also exquisite, and were very fun throughout the whole record. I just think songs could explore more complex structures instead of staying on these 1-2 chord jams. However, the title track strays from a this and the closing song is a banger too.

I think I preferred the other album of Baaba Maals, but it's nice and fresh music, which I won't listen to again, but it is nice x

This isn't something I would've ever considered listening to if not for this project but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Great guitar playing all across this thing and some interesting vocals that almost acted as another another piece in these sparse, relaxing instrumentals. This is maybe a bit too repetitive to be as long as it is but for the most part this was very good overall.

I put this record on the minute I saw it was today's assignment, since I love the music from west Africa with guitar that I've heard before like Ali Farka Touré and Tinariwen. I know who Baaba Maal is, of course, but when I opened this I didn't remember exactly what his music sounded like.

This is a mesmerizing album. The songs build up slowly with interweaving vocals and a long stream of repeating notes with guitar and percussion, some of which reminds me of minimalist classical music. Marvelous album.

5 stars

I had Maal's other, solo album a couple hundred albums back. I didn't know what to make of it then, and I don't quite know if that's changed. The sound of the album is very expensive, almost as a perfect soundtrack to the deserts from whence its creators came. The use of familiar instruments like the guitar makes this music more easily digestible to the average American while still allowing it to retain its distinct West African flavor. The vocals work extremely well within the album's context, though lyrics are not in a language I can speak and therefore inscrutable to me. These albums tend to be the hardest to rate due to their myriad differences from Western music, but I found myself enjoying this. I recommend this for a unique experience that is unlike the vast majority of this list's albums and will help expand your cultural awareness at least somewhat.

4.5
Guitar is entrancing at times. Not understanding the vocals allowed me to focus on the music more in a way I feel

4/5. More like Sam Cooked with this live performance. Because he gives a fantastic studio-quality live performance here, extremely expressive with an infectious energy which is helped by the backing band. you get a mix of blues and soul here and in theory it’s quite a basic album but Sam just absolutely sells it and elevates it to something great.

Schitterende west-Afrikaanse soundscapes. Beetje hypnotiserend, af en toe wat intenser. Onzettend mooi.

Not going to lie, couldn’t fully get through this one. One of those albums where I can appreciate what they’re doing. But I can’t sit with a whole album like this. Just starts to blend together too much for me

Djam Leelii by Baaba Maal is one of those albums that probably needs to be reviewed a little differently. It’s clearly not something I would normally listen to, but that’s really the whole point of this challenge — discovering music that sits outside my usual taste.

So I’ll start with the positives. The guitar work and drumming on the album are really cool, and there are some great musical moments throughout. I particularly enjoyed the music on Maacina Tooro, which has a really strong groove.

On the negative side, I struggled with the vocals. His voice just felt quite grating to me. The album is also fairly long, and after a while it began to sound repetitive, almost like the same musical ideas being repeated again and again.

Favourite tracks: Djam Leelii was quite a nice song musically.

Least favourite tracks: Most of the tracks aren’t something I would normally listen to or return to.

Album artwork: A bit of a messy cover , I’m not entirely sure what’s going on there.

I recognized his unique vocal stylings from his collaborations on movie scores with Hans Zimmer and Peter Gabriel. Let me be clear that I absolutely love world music and consume it weekly, so it is absolutely sad for me to say that this album did not work for me. I don't really find his performances elevate the material and the repetition gets a bit sparse midway through the track list. I prefer West African music with a bit more liveliness or danceability. I personally recommend checking out Youssou N'Dour, Diogal, or Doudou N'Diaye Rose if you are seeking out great Senegalese music!

I was physically unable to continue to pay attention through this album. I assumed I had listened to all the songs not because I had sat there for what felt forever but struggled, personally, to find where one song ended and one began. This is entirely a me problem.

Season: True Autumn

nao eh mto minha pira, mas nao eh ruim nao. é bem tranquilim e tem uma boa dose de energia em algumas músicas. é interessante e tem um vocal bem bacana