Black Mango – Quicksand

 

Black Mango is a story of a producer who is based in Bamako (Mali), Philippe Sanmiguel who is known for working with a bluesman Samba Touré. Over the years he gained experience both as a musician and a producer, also "collecting" different artists and musicians and recording the sessions with them. This album is preceded by an ep which was released by Glitterbeat records in 2014. Encouraged by Chris Eckmann and Hugo Race. Hugo offered to help in remixing the album. 

The contents of this album is highly sophisticated mix of  native sounds of Mali, Toureg music, plethora of production nuances that only add up to balmy atmosphere. Somehow it reminds me of ethnic krautrock and psychedelic voyages that GuruGuru might have enjoyed if they went on to explore some desert sounds. At the same time, the richness and crudeness of the production takes you away from the cliche of REALWORLD sugar-coated sounds. It is both raw and has the maestry of a sound theatre. The work in progress that has taken good few years is like building blocks in this whole puzzle. You can discover it bit by bit, cherishing every single aspect of it.

 Definitely worth exploring!

Vocals : Philippe Sanmiguel, Bocar Sana Coulibaly, Anansy Cissé, Mariam Koné & Hugo Race

Ngoni : Djimé Sissoko & Oumar Koïta

Guitars : Samba Touré, Ali Traoré, Anansy Cissé & Hugo Race

Bass Guitar : Mamadou Sidibé, Abdramane Touré & Konan Kouassi

Calabash : Philippe Sanmiguel, Kalifa Koné &

Tamani (Talking Drum) : Djimé Sissoko, Lassine Kouyaté & Moctar Sissoko

Various Percussions : Philippe Sanmiguel

Organ & synthesizers: Hugo Race

Sokou : Zoumana Tereta

Drums : Hans Mulders

Gusstaff