Talking Timbuktu

4
A really enjoyable album, again didn't understand any lyrics but it sounded good

I enjoyed this a lot, but reading up on it, knowing that the main guy just did not like this record too much, i dont feel good giving it a good rating. Still, it's a good one for lovers of the guitar. Low 4

This is nice though it does feel repetitive half way through.
I don't see myself revisiting this purposely in the future but I wouldn't be mad if it showed up on a shuffle algorithm.
Solid 3 stars.

I love this sound but have no context if this is truly special or not. Yea it’s repetitive but it’s complex too.

The best aural wallpaper possible.

i guess i would have liked it more if it was just instrumental

Pleasant enough, but it was just so so boring. Too long too. I feel like many albums on this list have been like this too. Generous 3.

Finally, something actually interesting this week. This album has a very warm vibe from its strong guitar playing. I can't understand the lyrics, but the singer is clearly good at what he does. This album sounds very similar to Baaba Maal's two records on this list despite coming from a different country. There's probably some nuance here that I'm not getting with my American Anglophone brain being unable to comprehend the lyrics. The percussion adds a nice touch to the record, enhancing what would otherwise be mostly placid guitar songs. This record is still very placid in general, but not in a bad way. Certainly, it's better than the last 3 records I've had.

I liked this album in concept. When I listened too closely I heard pretty standard blues music. All and all though, a pretty comforting listen. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

I don't necessarily love it, but I don't hate it, and I can acknowledge how pleasant it is. Reading about Mali and Timbuktu while listening to Ali's music feels like a history lesson in a way, and I really like that.

This is the kind of thing I'm excited to find on the list. Since I'm not in the community of internationally well-renowned guitarists, I am 100% positive I never would have heard this on my own. If I didn't fall in love with it, I appreciate it.

Perfect for the early evening after a hot day.

I was doing my chores while listening to the album, and I noticed that the songs didn't really change much. They were repetitive and long. The silver lining is that I've never heard of Malian folk before, which I wouldn't have listened to w/o this challenge.

This was really chill african music. I've been hating a lot on this list lately, and I found this very refreshing on a friday morning. Solid 5*
Highlights: soukora. amandrai (very blues-y), lasidan

Just so so boring

Really nice vibes.

I liked it, maybe not quite as much variety as I would have liked. Different than what I am used to and well crafted.
3.8

I know there’s better African music out there. We don’t need to involve Ry Cooder in this

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4.

It’s an inoffensively groovy album, which is a strength & a curse. It’s a strength in that I don’t think there’s ever a bad track here, and if you allow yourself to get into that groove, these tracks will generally pass by without incident & hit you in a really nice way. It’s a curse in that if you can’t get into that groove, these tracks will feel far longer than they are, and their looping patterns & melodies will feel incessant. For me, I can’t say the curse ever hit me too badly, but there are moments where it pops in & just kinda leaves me more critical of the lack of progression at some points. It’s easy to say “all of these tracks are the same”, especially with the acoustic / percussion work, but that undermines the fact that each song has different melodies & rhythms, and that each is sung in one of four different languages – there’s variety here, even if it doesn’t really feel like it at times.

Ultimately, since it’s hard to go track by track here, my rating is entirely based on a vibe. I think there’s some really good tracks here, a few mediocre (yet nice) ones, and only one that really had the length of the track / monotony of the loop strike me in a less appealing way (“Amandrai”, the longest one here). As with the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album we got a few days ago, I can’t really say that it’s an album you need to hear before you die in terms of critical acclaim or a “mandatory” piece of work, but as I said when we got “Savane”, I think it’s a recommended listen, if only for the cultural trip of sorts. This album did do more for me than “Savane”, and honestly, on a good day, it might even bump itself up to a 5. I think it’s a really enjoyable project for background noise / vibing to, and while I’m bumping it down to a 4, it’s still got a vote of confidence from me. Good stuff.

Probably a couple of tracks too long but I enjoyed it.

I prefer the team up with Toumani Diabate but this is still good.