Welcome To Mali

WELCOME TO MALI, the second Nonesuch effort from Malian duo Amadou & Mariam has already garnered rapturous reviews from critics in Europe, where it was released in late 2008. WELCOME TO MALI recorded in Bamako, Dakar, Paris and London and produced with longtime manager Marc-Antoine Moreau is less high-concept travelogue than straightforward set, yet it proves to be even more adventurous and exuberantly rocking. Albarn briefly joins the pair, co-producing and co-writing opening track Sabali as ingeniously arranged as the best of his work with the Gorillaz and featuring Mariams almost otherworldly vocals over swirls of disco- style keyboards.