Politiki
Mamadou Kelly transforms desert blues with modern sophistication. Kelly’s third album, “Politiki” brings Kelly and his group BanKaiNa together with grammy-winning steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, drummer Susie Ibarra, bassist Jake Silver and guitarist Dan Littleton into a dynamic fusion. Backing musicians for such Malian greats as Ali Farka Toure and Afel Bocoum, Kelly and BanKaiNa push tradition into new waves of sound from the Sahara.
Mamadou Kelly - POLITIKI
MAMADOU KELLY
Mamadou Kelly transforms desert blues with modern sophistication. Kelly’s third album, “Politiki” brings Kelly and his group BanKaiNa together with grammy-winning steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, drummer Susie Ibarra, bassist Jake Silver and guitarist Dan Littleton into a dynamic fusion. Backing musicians for such Malian greats as Ali Farka Toure and Afel Bocoum, Kelly and BanKaiNa push tradition into new waves of sound from the Sahara.
PRESS
“At one level this is simple, quite lovely, rural-sounding music, but it is also layered and its complexity is only thinly disguised.” fROOTS #407 p. 60
"A more than successful intercontinental cross pollination!" Tropicalidad.be, May 29th, 2017
“classy” Robin Denselow - Songlines #127 p.49
“For 51 minutes, you’re released, flying without wings, infused with a sense of having momentarily left the planet” DENNIS ROZANSKI BluesRag / Summer 2017 / p. 30
"a magnificent album… Malians and Americans join hands to put together a piece of gigantic steel- desert blues." Pieter Franssen
"a fascinating fusion of American roots rock and the famous West African desert blues, " Jos Schuring in the Dutch magazine Heaven #5, 2017 (8 stars)
From the album Politiki, Mamadou Kelly sings about fate and destiny: You cannot escape it; whatever you are destined to become you cannot change. Whether it is to be president or an ordinary person. What critics are saying about Mamadou Kelly: "songs on a dizzying high level...