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Blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam's debut album Dimanche a Bamako sold over half a million copies in France alone. The Manu Chao-produced record established them as amongst Mali's hottest talents, but its critical lauding might also have represented a problem: How to follow it?
Three years on, the answer is the follow-up album, Welcome To Mali. Sabali, the opening track and lead single, is unlike anything else they've done. Translated as Patience, Mariam's opening, plaintive vocals are pitched at levels of childlike innocence in a mix that sounds like it's being broadcast on a pirate radio station.
Then in kicks toytown synth arpeggiation, simple percussion and bass. Where is Amadou? Where is the duo's own distinct sound? Instead Sabali sounds familiar to anyone who's heard producer and co-writer Damon Albarn's album The Good, The Bad And The Queen, from which it resembles an out-take with a guest vocalist. As such it may appeal beyond the Francophonic diaspora, and while it's catchy enough, it's an odd choice for lead single.
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