Photo Credit: by Tom Beetz (Habib Koit) (CC-BY-2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

A couple of weeks ago, I popped over to see two of my best friends and to attend my Godson’s birthday party.

After all the little darlings had run out of the energy they obtained from ingesting copious quantities of processed sugar all day, we finally packed them off to bed and gratefully collapsed in the conservatory. Around midnight, we flicked on the radio and over a large coffee, listened to Bob Harris on BBC Radio2.

Bob was playing a couple of tracks from Habib Koite’s “Baro” album…and it was SUPERB! My music collection does not contain a large amount of what is referred to as: “World” music (what a daft term that is!) but this album so impressed my that I ordered a copy from Amazon the same evening.

I wasn’t disappointed. The entire album is absolutely excellent (and it’s been a long time since I last said THAT!).

“Baro” is an album of pure craft! A wonderful blend of clever and melodic accoustic guitar (with a hint of Spanish influence) together with smooth, soulful vocals perfectly melded with gentle calypso-style rhythms, a mix of African harmonies and instruments to give a truly unique sound.

In short, this album is a “must have” for anyone with an ear for musical harmony at it’s best.

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