Fula Flute Blue Monster BM002

Forget Mozart and Freemasons, Fula Flute is the real magic flute. Absolutely transe-like, hypnotic. Like hearing the rural roots of Roland Kirk - haunting, repeated short melody, then wild, squawking, simultaneous improvisations/ vocalisations where voice and flute act as one, so you're sometimes not sure which is which. This is luminous, natural, exciting, PhD to the Anderson of Tull's GCSE. Many echoes of Baaba Maal to be head here: he is a Peul, who are Fula. The characteristic riffs and figures he and Mansour Seck made famous stand here in a more rustic setting, with acres of koras, balafons and desert. This is the sound of the Sahel, as close to universal music as we're likely to hear, though in this case recorded in New York. Twin players of flute or tambin are Bailo Bah, half Vietnamese, half Guinean and Sylvain leroux, Montrealer, who studied flute in Guinea. They play traditional songs, plus one new composition by Leroux. Is this group a going concern? They should be.

- Rick Sanders, fRoots Magazine, March 2003