Grammy-nominated Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara has never lacked conviction, and Massa is her most openly devotional record yet. Working again with Matthieu Chedid (better known as -M-, and the album’s artistic director), it dresses Wassoulou-rooted guitar lines and Bambara melodies in sleek pop colours, albeit sometimes too sleekly.
The opening run feels oddly cautious, and the language of gratitude can tip into a sermon. Yet Diawara’s sincerity is hard to resist. When the machinery loosens, as on ‘Sigui’, where she drops into a darker register, or ‘Fala’, whose Bambara-English plea, ‘Don’t cry’, carries real ache, the album finds a more compelling balance between polish and pulse. ‘Tati Bakary’,…

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