- artist:LAYE SOW
- featured artist:Richard Caswell, Steve Marshall
- release year:2004
- style(s):Afro, Blues
- country:Senegal
- formats:CD (Compact Disc)
- record posted by:Orange World Records / Globaltica Festival
- label:Orange World
Laye Sow is a Fula, from Podor in the Futa Toro region of Northern Senegal, on the Mauritanian border. He was brought up on the African tradition of storytelling through song. A Muslim Mystic is how he has been often described, Laye is deeply spiritual which you can easily traced in all his songs. However he is first and foremost an African and the rights and wrongs of African society, as well as the weaknesses that create division consume him.
In 2003 Laye's Mbalax band, Jelitara Futa, toured the festivals in the UK. Here he met a Blues guitarist, Richard Caswell. This union resulted in an extraordinary fusion between Senegalese tradition and American Blues which you can hear at "Djamano".
In the past Laye for 3 years was lead singer with the National Band of Senegal. He is cousin of Baaba Maal and also he collaborated with him for a while.
"Djamano, a smoothly flowing blend of Senegalese folk and American blues sensitivities, is an impressive debut. Sow's songs are clear and striking in their simplicity and underpinned by a subtle web of blues, slide and finger-picked guitar patterns. He sings with the nasal tinge and vibrating falsetto that are typical for his home region and have been popularised worldwide by Baaba Maal" - Katharina Lobeck, Songlines
"The music is full of emotion - a crossbreed of African tunes, using various local languages, neatly crafted with blues guitars. Powerful songs like 'Mauritania' reflecting the violence of fishing rights and farming disputes between Senegal and Mauritania, still hold a hopeful message of peace and reconciliation. Sow's influence for his music comes from his own experience of life in Senegal - a strong family, loss of companions, the hypocrisies and violence of human behaviour, and wondrous stories of his homeland" - Jason Parkinson on a performance at Momo's Kemia Bar
"Orange World Records is proving to be a seriously eclectic label. From Eastern European folk music to West African ‘blues’ acoustic sounds the emphasis seems to be on innovation & quality. This fine release more than amply fulfils the latter on a beautifully controlled acoustic blues with deep Fula roots. The tribal group from modern-day northern Senegal has a musical tradition which contains a far more Arabic bent than the southern Wolof. Sow’s vocal style has much in common with Baaba Maal and the whole sound here is redolent of one of Maal’s low-key collaborations with his blind mentor Mansour Seck. Acoustic guitar, pattering percussion (never forced) and Sow’s light but penetrating vocal which ably carries the melody of each song" - The Phatt Planet
"Laye's emotional singing was allowed to blossom in dramatic fashion. While most of the tunes were mid-tempo slow-burners, Laye always managed to squeeze the utmost out of every chorus and line...At first, Laye's technique of subtle repetition of guitar lines and beautiful choruses seemed to be simple enough, but as the songs developed Laye displayed a wonderful ability to paint pictures with his voice" - Geoff Cowart on WOMAD 2004 River Stage performance