Description
World Circuit: Oumou Sangaré — Worotan (Audio CD)
Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!
Product Details:
- UPC: 769233004529
- Catalog Number: WCD 045
- Product Type: Audio CD
- Brand / Label: World Circuit
- Artist: Oumou Sangaré
- Album: Worotan
- Producer: Nick Gold
- Release Year: 1996
- Genre: World
- Style: Wassoulou, Malian, Afro-funk
Product Features
- Format: CD
- Discs: 1
- Tracks: 10
- Total runtime: approx. 59 minutes
- Condition: New / Factory sealed
Overview
Worotan is the album where Mali's great Wassoulou singer Oumou Sangaré pushes her sound outward without losing its roots. The Wassoulou groove — hunting-music rhythms, the buzzing kamalengoni harp, call-and-response chorus vocals — is all here, but so is a horn section led by American saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, the man who arranged for James Brown.
The range is the point. Sparse traditional pieces sit next to horn-led funk and percussion-driven numbers, and Sangaré's voice rides all of it with the authority that made her a star across West Africa and beyond. Her songs speak plainly about women's lives, marriage, and freedom — never decorative, always direct.
Produced by Nick Gold for World Circuit in 1996, the album closes with an exquisite ballad featuring young Indian musician Nitin Sawhney on Spanish guitar. A landmark of 1990s African music, sealed and ready to play.
Interesting Facts
- Oumou Sangaré, born in Bamako in 1968, became the leading voice of Wassoulou music and an outspoken advocate for women's rights in Mali.
- Pee Wee Ellis, who leads the horn section here, was a key arranger for James Brown and later worked extensively with Van Morrison.
- The closing track features Nitin Sawhney on Spanish guitar, an early appearance by the now-renowned British-Indian composer.
- The kamalengoni ("young man's harp") at the core of the band is the signature instrument of the Wassoulou sound.
- Arrangements are by Massambou Wele Diallo, with horns arranged by Pee Wee Ellis; all songs were written by Sangaré herself.
Track Listing
- Kun Fè Ko — 4:04
- N'Guatu — 5:16
- Baba — 5:11
- Worotan — 6:23
- Denw — 5:05
- N'Diya Ni — 4:42
- Tièbaw — 5:44
- Sabu — 4:48
- Fantan Ni Mônè — 9:26
- Djôrôlen — 8:18
Publishers
℗ & © World Circuit 1996. A World Circuit production, produced by Nick Gold. All songs published by World Circuit Music.
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