pape mbaye - listen! drum speaking

pape mbaye - listen! drum speaking

Pape Mbaye is a Senegalese percussionist who plays sabar and tama drums, djembe, djun djun and congas. Anyone who has seen him play and dance either with Gervais Koffi & The African Diaspora or various percussion troupes around Sydney can attest to the infectious joy that he adds to any proceedings. Listen Drum Speaking is Pape's first CD and is firmly centred on his bubbling Senegalese rhythms.

There's a bit of afrobeat cum reggae on the second song Student, Cuban sounds with Dan Wallis playing tres on My Lover and reggae on the closer Prince. The other three tracks are more percussion oriented with the long opener, the title track gradually accelerating in tandem with Jeremy Cook on drumkit and Blair Greenberg on tabla. There are some faults however. The backing vocals from Liz Newman are a bit too sweet without bottom in patches while in other spots they are quite effective.

Also the last song Prince seems to finish just when it's starting to steam up. Pape has the makings of a good singer with that expressive, acid vocal timbre that could only come from Senegal. Even so he seems to be hesitant and out of key on the Cuban styled My Lover. If you want to hear what Pape can do then Night Time is the one to listen to, a traditional sounding number with the drummer's singing and playing in fine form. Listen Drum Speaking is a solid local effort, warts and all. July 2003