Africa Yontii

Album review

Photographs of an artist's hometown might be an atypical marketing strategy, but guitarist Tidiane Thiam's beautiful Instagram photos of Podor, the northernmost town in Senegal, beautifully capture its architecture, light, trees, and rivers. Despite its small population, Podor has a rich musical history as the birthplace of Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck. While Maal and Seck relocated to Paris and grew their international fame, Thiam chose to remain in Podor.

Thiam's first two albums casually captured his spacious acoustic guitar playing. 2017's Waande Kadde documents his instrumental collaborations with guitar and hoddu player Amadou Binta Konté. On Thiam's first solo album, 2020's Siftorde, the sounds of nature surrounding Thiam become even more present, with crickets providing an especially audible frame. His playing floats in and out of precise time, creating a musical framework through repetition of lines which feels intuitive, not precisely planned.

Africa Yontii continues to show off Thiam's guitar talent but in a more formal context. Thiam collaborates with beatmaker Ndiaye Moctar but this new album bears little resemblance to hip-hop, and only some tracks have beats; Moctar's involvement moves the album to a new acoustic space. Starting with the opening track "Dannibe Pine," loops of synthesized percussion and bass surround Ndiaye's acoustic guitar. The guitar stays carefully in time with these loops, and they lead Thiam's playing to a clearer sense of structure. Thiam's guitar sounds different, too, with presence captured by a direct mic in a studio. Crickets and background hiss still appear on "Yewende," but they're now carefully arranged, not just chirping atmospherically in the background. Closing track "Malisado" most resembles Siftorde, stretching form and space with the least regard for meter or composition.

Evolving from his earlier organic recordings, and with possible influence from studio productions by Malian guitarists like Ali Farka Touré and Namian Sidibé, Thiam moves forward with Africa Yontii. And in this more structured, if still loose and open, setting, Thiam's guitar playing still shines. © Steve Silverstein/Qobuz