A large, percussion heavy ensemble from Senegal’s capital city of Dakar, Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff is releasing their debut album Magg Tekki on November 10 through the Sing a Song Fighter label of Stockholm, Sweden and Mississippi Records of Portland, OR. If the rhythmic groove is musically paramount to this band, the palette is broad as it features vocals, saxophone, flute, balafon, accordion, and kora in a deftly honed mix. Aficionados of international sound, here’s another one for the shelf.
For Magg Tekki, Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff feature poet Djiby Ly, Aziz Gning, Oscar Gomes and Alladı N’diaye on vocals, along with Dieugue Diop, Henry Coly, Vincent Mendy, Babacar Nging, Seydou Dia, François Bass, Abdoulahad Faye, Joacheme Mendy, Ndongo Faye, Laye Mangane, Bapis Faye and Japha as the percussion core, plus Djiby Ly on flute, and Ibrahima Camarra on balafon.
Additionally, there are contributions from Lina Langendorf on saxophone, Amanda Fritzén on accordion, Abdou Cissokho and Lamine Cissokho on kora, and Karl Jonas Winqvist, the Swedish musician and archivist who operates Sing a Song Fighter, on bells and rattles. Gning, Gomis, Ly, Mendy, N’diaye, and Abdou Cissokho are credited with individually composing Magg Tekki’s ten tracks.
The assurance on display is especially impressive given that this is the outfit’s first record, but then again, their impact on Dekar’s nightlife is described as considerable, a statement that rings true as it seems unlikely that a collective could bring this kind of heat without ample preparation. Opener “La Musique Du Cœur” immediately establishes the primacy of the rhythm followed closely by a lead-backing vocal exchange and then horns brightening the groove.
“Begué Begué” is no less rhythmic, but the shift to accordion reinforces the broadness of Assiko Golden Band’s attack. I especially like how the exchange here is between the lead vocal and the accordion and the kora. And it’s necessary to note that 14 different types of rhythmic instrument are utilized on Magg Tekki (amongst the percussion distinctions listed in the credits are thioung, bouga, contre, basse, thiathia, and djiémé), but “Sama Néné,” if a powerhouse of spirited drumming, finds the horns and accordion well integrated into the mix.
There are also two sweet (and short) interludes on the kora that further expand Magg Tekki’s foundation. So does the title track, with its use of balafon, a large metal xylophone-styled instrument (but played strapped to the body rather than horizontally) that sounds somewhat similar to a mbira (aka lamellophone, or thumb piano). The flute and saxophone in “Magg Tekki” are also quite appealing.
“Baye Ndongo” scales back to just vocal interplay and percussion. But the voices are wonderfully engaging, transcending the language barrier, and the percussion spotlights rattles, a few bells, and some metal clang. And so, the track is as vibrant as anything on the album. “Xarritt” retains the lack of horns and accordion as it offers the sort of vocal richness that’s long been associated with African sounds.
But there’s a short production effect mid-way through “Xarritt” that heightens the distinctiveness; it, the sax, the accordion, the kora, and the bells were all overdubbed, so Magg Tekki is definitely not a field recording, even if it sometimes progresses like one, with an unbroken flow. The beginning of “Mix Louange” radiates an almost highlife-like string-pluck prettiness in tandem with the rhythmic thrust, though this subsides as the sax enters the scheme.
For Magg Tekki’s close, “Borom Darou” again scales back, setting the sax and accordion aside but adding some wonderful string cascades in the track’s latter half. It’s a welcome beauty move capping a very satisfying first recording from Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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