Né So

Rokia continues to grow and just keeps putting out great albums. I saw her live in California once. On stage she becomes a real performer, truly electrifying. Her albums are less frenetic but very interesting and lovely albums which show off her creative skills. I highly recommend this album.I was listening to it as I wrote this review.

My first experience with Traore, and I am still finding the many layers and levels of meaning that is on this disc. It is beautiful and haunting, full of love and death, light and angry with injustice.

Nice songs Mama TRAORE

Lovely voice and amazing lyrics, Rokia Traore' is unforgettable.

ok

beauty

Outstanding singer. I can listen to her over and over.

They played a track from this record on the radio and so I had to order it right away. Beautiful singing, earnest lyrics about the brotherhood of all people, I like it.

Rokia has come a long way since her delicious debut  Mouneissa  which mixed Malian instruments not usually played together.On Ne So, Rokia has realised a mature, unique and distinctive sound. It's not really Malian anymore, or rather not only Malian. It's not the kora and n'goni sound of the griots. This is folksy, singer songwriter meets rock, with an African feel. Whatever it is, it's very nice.Gentle electric and acoustic guitar leads, backed by bass and tinkling n'goni (much lower in the mix these days), with some great and varied drumming. The drummer, Moise Ouatara (from Burkina Faso) is very good - there's such a subtlety of touch and shifting rhythms that skip along adding a wonderful lightness and fluidity to the tracks.John Parish produces (he did her last album) and plays guitar here and there. The backing vocals either from Rokia herself or others are gorgeous and restrained. Rokia's lead vocal is delicate, pure and tremulous. There is great variety to the tracks, with some slow and gentle pieces, switching to uptempo danceable ones.Then for me it gets a bit of a wobble with an odd version of Strange Fruit. Rokia's delicate voice can't really hold this track and her timing is odd (it's sung in English). After that is the title track Ne So, with spoken French and then spoken English (although not credited I'm guessing it's John Paul Jones who plays mandolin?). The song has a very serious theme, it speaks about the refugee experience, but I struggle with it's worthiness.The final track is Se Dan with a clear English vocal line. Again, for me, it's a bit cringey, talking very obviously about diversity. Devendra Banhart matches Rokia's vocal and adds a very nice slide type guitar sound. Lyrically it's a bit clumsy and obvious.Overall this is a very nice album and shows Rokia as a confident and distinct female African artist. That's my clumsy and obvious way of recognising her diversity and power! Mouneissa

She is still the best. Had a chance to see her in Stockholm and I loved it though the sound was not the best.

I have been a big fan of Rokia Traore for many years, and this cd is just another a pearl in a long line. Love it :)

Bellissimo disco di Rokia Traoré che dopo diversi meandri espressi attraverso esperienze che la allontanavasno dalla musica delle sue terre maliane, torna a sonorità più legate al mondo subsahariano, alla cultura blues del Msali, a dei suoni Tuareg. Alla produzione, John Parish che spesso lcolleghiamo a PJ Harvey. Appare anche alla chitarra e al mandolino John Paul-Jones, un bravo giovanotto che alla pari dei suoi ex compagni di strada in Led Zep ha ancora qualcosa da racontarci.

schöne Stimme, hübsche Untermalung, leider auf keinem weg bei Amazon erfahrbar, welche Lieder denn überhaupt auf der CD sind, dümmliches Angebot.R. P.