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Acoustic review
when less is magnificently more

The Malian superstar pares down her 2017 album Mogoya – plus some early classics – in this intimate unplugged session

“Unplugged sessions have fallen from favour since their 1990s heyday, but here Mali’s leading diva reminds us that sometimes they can eclipse plugged-in originals. The template is Oumou Sangaré’s 2017 album Mogoya, which has already reappeared as a dance-oriented remix. Acoustic is a different beast entirely. Recorded live in a French studio over two days last August, without amplifiers, overdubs or retakes, it lends its songs a new intimacy and intensity. A guitar and ngoni provide the intricate string-driven backdrops while two female singers provide heft, setting up call and responses with Sangaré, who is in magnificent, free-flowing form.”

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