Search - Neba Solo :: Kene Balafons

Bringing the Balafon into the 21st Century

Bruce Whitehouse | Bethlehem, PA United States | 01/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Neba Solo's brand of music is nothing like typical Afropop, and scarcely resembles music of his Malian compatriots like Salif Keita, Habib Koite or Oumou Sangare. His band uses no electrified instruments, no special effects, no horn sections, no background vocals. Everything is played with two instruments called balafons (a traditional African xylophone) and three to four percussion instruments (gourd drums, scrapers, etc).If this all sounds very old-fashioned and "traditional," think again. Solo (his real name is Souleymane Traore) has modernized the balafon-playing style that his Senoufo people have carried on for generations, making it more driving and melodic. And the balafon, usually relegated to playing accompaniment in typical African pop songs, comes into its own as an amazing solo instrument.Neba Solo sings beautifully too, and has a knack for combining catchy refrains with rhythms that are 100 percent danceable. This isn't a departure from tradition: Senoufo balafon playing is generally meant to accompany dancing, and Solo's music is no exception. His songs are lengthy, some of them upwards of 10 minutes, and this allows the musicians to sustain trance-like grooves for several minutes. Listen for the moments toward the end of songs like "Cinporoko Nonougoro" when the drums kick into high gear, the tempo picks up and the song goes into overdrive. This is dance music at its finest. It's too bad, though, that European techno DJs haven't been able to harness the energy of Neba Solo's music. Frederic Galliano has tried (on both of his "frikyiwa" collections) to remix two of the songs featured on "Kene Balafons," but he wound up just getting in the way with his ambient noises and filter sweeps. If you want the full intensity of the new wave of Malian balafon music, go to the source--Neba Solo in his unadorned glory."