Idrissa Diop
Yakar
Tinder
Sure, Senegalese vocalist/percussionist Idrissa Diop has written music for Youssou N’Dour; all right, Carlos Santana is a big fan; yeah, the man has collaborated with the likes of Ray Lema; and, granted, he is West African; but, when listening to Yakar, you just can’t stop thinking of Earth, Wind & Fire.
Diop brings it to you loud and funky. Your speakers explode with energy, and dancing is the order of the day. Diop’s gruff vocals, zouk-ish choruses, punchy percussive horns and blistering guitar licks combine with driving Latin and funk and Latin funk rhythms that carry you away in a dervish dance frenzy. Yakar is pure, contagious fervor – an exhilarating time that moves you with each stick of TNT on the track (the ballads do kind of put a cheesy damper on the whole thing, but hey!). This is the kind of stuff that makes post-Fela Afro Pop so fun. There’s a verve, a joie de vivre that’s damned near impossible to capture in the studio. Yet, Diop does so much more. He’s released the dance djinn, and you will be possessed and taken away in a dust cloud of euphoria, never to be heard from again.
Tinder Records: http://www.tinderrecords.com/
