Immigrés / Bitim Rew

Fun but I doubt I'll return

Good groves, well done, but not something I felt overly connected to. A little repetitive for my taste, though I appreciate the inclusion of Afro-pop on this list.

To echo what others said -- albums like this are why I started this project. Short, but nice and refreshing on a monday morning.

This project keeps making it clear that you can really only fairly evaluate albums whose cultural context you’re sufficiently familiar with. If that’s not the case (because the recordings are simply too old or aimed at a completely different audience), the only thing left to go on is the vibe. “Immigrés” by Youssou N'Dour is such a case for me; here, I’m giving it a neutral rating based on the positive energy of his music.

I still want to do a bit more research pertaining to this album’s release history, the original track listing, etc. But going off what seems to be the commonly accepted album, I dig this well enough. With music I’m not inherently versed in, I always struggle to gauge my enjoyment of songs in the album format. I want to say that I was much bigger on the title track and “Pitche Mi” than I was on “Taaw” and “Badou”, but I don’t know if that’s just a case of the genre “wearing off” on me as the album continues. Whatever the case, I’ll definitely return to this and try to refine my opinions a bit more on it. Cool stuff.

3.5/5

I've never listened to Youssou N'Dour before. I quite enjoyed this and I might add it to my list of albums to listen to again.

Really good energy. Happy melodies!

I've previously mentioned Senegalese singer-songwriter Youssou N'Dour appearing as a guest backing vocalist for Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". In fact, he's one of the most notable artists from Senegal and Africa at large to crossover internationally, to the point of being his home country's Minister of Tourism for a brief time. Not only that, but Youssou is also credited with developing the musical style of mbalax, which is urban dance accompanied by polyrhythmic drumming on the traditional sabar instrument. It's a cultural bridge between the identity of the indigenous folks of the Greater Senegambia region and the urban panethnic identity that arose during colonialism, and that much is apparent on the album Immigrés.

The heartfelt singing in the native tongue about immigrant pride and embracing cultural heritage, the languid guitar playing amidst the complex percussive rhythms, and the occasional horn embellishments made for such a comforting listen that could also be danced to. I can hear the earnest dedication to the songcraft in Youssou's delivery, and the harmonious chants and instrumentation surrounding him. It makes me wish that I could find the lyrics to "Taaw" and "Badou", as I feel like I'm missing context from the record. Not helping matters is that the grainy production could have been cleaned up a bit, and the keyboards sound buried in the mix. I understand that the percussion is the primary element of this music, and it is well done, but perhaps there could have been a better balance of all involved sounds.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy Immigrés as another enriching cultural experience for my album journey. Youssor N'Dour deserved the notoriety he got from sharing his country's cultural roots.

A pleasant, mostly unremarkable listen.

interesting!

some nice tunes with some great riffs, im just not sure there enough to bring me back to this. i do kinda think that if this was in english it would be a lot more popular but as an ignorant english speaker this is less accessible to me

2.5

Not something I think I would actively seek out, but the percussion was really interesting. Especially on the song Taaw. Glad I listened.

banger

Bloody brilliant

Not too bad.

Play 7 Seconds!

*Glad to have heard this
*Had some interesting jazz components

Excellent Afro beats

Well, this certainly isn't my standard fare but the whole point of this project is to expand one's horizons, right? This is fun. Parts of it reminded me of the soundtrack to the Sims vacation expansion pack. Good vibes, great percussion, very cool vocals. A fun listen.

It's OK, I don't understand it, but I didn't hate it.