Oumou

This six-foot-tall goddess is indisputably one of modern Africa's greatest singers. Her magnificent, throaty alto and exotic yet accessible style have already won her an impressive international following. Oumou's lyrics are nearly as compelling as her voice and person; her open affirmation of female sensuality and diatribes against polygamy have irritated conservative elders but delighted her contemporaries. She is an exponent of the blues-like Wassoulou tradition, which takes its name from a province in Southern Mali. The region's music is based upon Asian-sounding five-tone scales and is usually accompanied by the resonant kamelengoni (a six-stringed hunters' harp) and searing, earthy fiddles, while jaunty polyrhythms are marked by wood drums, metal scrapers and/or shakers. This double album constitutes an ideal introduction. It contains a 12-track "greatest hits" package (picked from her first three albums, Moussoulou, Ko Sira and Worotan) plus eight new tunes that have never before been available on CD. --Christina Roden, Amazon.com

For anyone following developments in West African music during the 1990s, Oumou Sangare was impossible to overlook. Her wonderful debut album Moussolou kicked off the decade in style and was a huge hit at home and abroad.

Sangare's vibrant electro-acoustics take on the infectiously funky pentatonic Wassoulou sounds of Southern Maliand this wonderful mix soon resulted in a deal with the infamous World Circuit label. This deal effectively introduced her to a spellbound international audience who soon saw her as a new world music diva. Her live performances emanated style and grace. She had the vocal power and tone of a griotte, but instead of singing obsequious praise songs to wealthy patrons, her lyrics often challenged long held traditions, in particular championing women's rights.

Ko Sira (1993) and Worotan (1996) amply sustained her reputation, although they also made it clear that she wasn't in any hurry to jettison her beloved Wassoulou roots in order to 'cross over'.

However, the promise of these years wasn't really fulfilled. Extensive touring within Africa, (where her biggest audience has always been) and a decision to devote more time to her family meant that the impetus of her career dissipated somewhat. She did record a follow-up album called Laban, which was released in Mali in 2001, though not on World Circuit. This compilation is their attempt to put her back in the spotlight.

Oumou combines 8 tracks released on CD for the first time, with twelve taken from those first three albums, and remastered. Of the 'new' tracks, the hypnotic chant of "Mogo Te Diya Bee Ye" is the only out-take; apparently, when la Sangare goes into the studio she generally only brings what songs she needs. There's also a radical remix of the ballad "Djorolen", successfully reinvented as eerie loping Wassoulou trip-hop. The remaining six are songs from Laban which have been given the World Circuit treatment by label founder and producer Nick Gold.

He has reshaped Boncana Maiga's production by removing some synth and string parts, replacing some programmed percussion with live musicians and adding the flute of 'Magic Malik' in a couple of places. Comparing these with the originals, I have to say Gold's changes are improvements.

Lucy Durán's sleevenotes shed new light on the stories behind each song, and the sequencing of the material has obviously been very carefully thought through, with the desired effect of making a mix of new and older work seem fresh, contemporary and vital. Not that this kind of music loses its power with age.

What remains to be seen is whether people who've already got all of Sangare's early albums will want to buy large bits of them all over again in order to hear her latest material. --Jon Lusk

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Oumou Sangare is Mali's great diva, champion of women's rights, and one of the world's most astounding female voices. 'Oumou' is her first new release in 7 years.

Compiled by Charlie Gillett and Nick Gold this 2CD collection contains 8 new songs never before released on CD, alongside a career retrospective of 12 of the best tracks from her previous 3 critically acclaimed World Circuit albums. All tracks have been digitally remastered and the CD booklet contains song notes by Oumou Sangare herself.

Drawing deep from a wealth of musical traditions from Southern Mali, Oumou Sangare's idiom is the hypnotically rhythmic home-grown music that has become her trademark: wassoulou. Oumou's lyrics talk about the concerns of everyday life in contemporary Mali, especially the problems that women face on a daily basis. Her songs talk openly about a diverse range of subjects that previously would have been considered taboo in West African society, such as songs about female sensuality or the problems of polygamy.

Available for the first time on one collection, 'Oumou' brings together the greatest works of this amazing artist.