Hold it right there. I know what you're thinking. "World music? Psh, more like worst music." Well, how about you tone down the snark a little bit there, cowboy, and hear me out. I realize that being a little late to the Folila party makes me the 400th music writer who wants to tell you how cool they are because they know about Amadou & Mariam, but frankly they're worth a little more. Just in case you've missed the past 399 introductions, Amadou & Mariam are a blind couple from Mali who have been singing and globetrotting together for decades. The couple gained fame steadily in the world music scene until, along with German superstar Herbert Grönemeyer, they wrote the anything for the 2006 World Cup (held in Germany). Then they really started to get noticed. Big festivals, year-end awards, the works.
What's so impressive this time around? Well, afro-pop is hip as fuck right now. Riding the strange, but not unwelcome, wave of popularity, they enlisted a few friends for this album. Songs on the album feature such recognizable names as Santigold, Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone from TV On The Radio, Theophilus London and several guesting appearances from French singer Bertrand Cantat. It should be clear at this point that this is not your typical world music album.
The songs of Folila largely transcend the dreaded moniker and when they do, it's thrilling. Early track Wily Kataso, which has the guests from TV On The Radio, will get you singing along as well as any english language pop song. Who cares if you don't know the words when you don't know the language? Unless you actually do know it, some of it's in French so that's not too hard, and some of the guests sing in English. While the featured players add some much needed texture to the songs, they always stay respectfully in the background, letting the two stars shine.
It's the songs that don't break the mold the fare the worst here. This album has some rather serious mid-late doldrums. It's these songs that fail to separate themselves from what you normally think of as world music. Perfectly at home in a coffee shop downtown, but more or less meant to stay there. The good feelings return however by the end with the great (When he's guesting on another artists' song) Theophilus London and super happy tune called "Cherie" close it out.
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