The Ousmane Kouyate Band

If you’ve heard Salif Keita, Sékouba Bambino, Kandia Kouyaté or Les Ambassadeurs (either the original ’70s band or the acclaimed recent reunion), you know what a marvelous guitarist Ousmane Kouyaté is, and you’ll jump at the chance to hear him with his own band. He recorded Dombain 1990 after leading Salif’s band on his breakthrough European and American tours. Jean-Philippe Rykiel, an arranger and producer who worked on Soro (1987), Salif’s monumental solo debut album, brings his innovative wizardry to this project as well, but here, while the singers (including Ousmane himself) are top-flight, the focus is rightly on the masterly guitar.