Gabin Dabiré - Tieru

It's a rather rare thing these days, to encounter a recording able to inspire enthusiasm within a few moments. "Tieru", the third album of Burkina-Faso-born songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Gabin Dabiré, is such a gem.
Very unlikely this production will take longer than a good minute to get you hooked; that's when world class drummer Manu Katché enters the first track " Wo I Do" in his typical, fascinating style, joining Dabirés dark velvet voice, opening the way into a musical treat so skillfully arranged that will leave even the most spoiled and seasoned listener/s awe-struck in the most pleasant manner.

Such quality of course doesn't manifest itself out of the blue.
Besides Manu Katché – and Gabin Dabiré himself – more top class musicians of the highest order have gathered on this album, e.g. guitar-hero Dominic Miller (best known for his work with artists as Sting, Phil Collins, The Pretenders, Sheryl Crow, Bryan Adams, Melissa Etheridge, Level 42, World Party, Peter Gabriel, Manu Dibango, John McLaughlin, Vinnie Co-laiuta, Steve Winwood, Kenny Kirkland, Talk Talk, a.m.o.), and bass legend Pino Palladino (Zucchero, Femi Kuti, Tears for Fears, B.B. King, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Yossou N'Dour, Melissa Etheridge, Jeff Beck, Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Ola Adams, Peter Gabriel, MPeople, David Sanborn, Seal, Bryan Ferry, Eros Ramazzotti, Elton John, Chris De-Burgh,a.m.o.).
Moreover, "Tieru" features Lokua Kanza, one of the most prominent artists of Africa, who has long won himself the status of a superstar in world music. Not only did Kanza contribute 2 tracks co-composing, he also left his audible imprint on the album as co-producer.
This short look into the line-up will have connoisseurs prick their ears; and every bit of an-ticipation is well justified, since all musicians appearing on "Tieru" present themselves in their finest of forms.

Now, bringing together a top-notch cast as the one at hand would be a mere vanity stunt if the compositions to be played weren't worthwhile. But evident enough, "Tieru" is a sure winner in this regard, too. The 10 tracks Dabiré wrote for this album (partly in cooperation with attending musicians) are as capturing as they are diverse; most of them reverbating in the mind for a long time after.
That overall catchiness may cause the odd die-hard purist to blame "Tieru" for sounding closer to the realms of Pop music than to the 'authentic' musical heritage of Dabiré's country of origin -- or rather, the proud tradition of the 'Griots' or 'Jalis' from which he comes. Notwithstanding, listeners who enjoy cross-genre music unburdened by such top-heavy mus-ings will find a most rewarding experience in the exemplary synthesis of elements from the western-african culture and brilliantly produced studio-pop realized here.

Speaking of which; Dabirés knowledgeable closeness to euro'merican listening goods can be explained by the fact that he moved his permanent place of residence from Burkina Faso to Gaiole near Florence, Italy, in 1975. Consequently, he had his first two albums under his own name ("Afriki Djamana - Music from Burkina Faso" [ARNR 0494] and "Kontomé" [ARNR 1996]) released by the also Florentinian label AMIATA – the latter of the two moltosuccess-ful, by the way: Right after release in 1998, "Kontom é" dashed into the "World Music Charts Europe" (WMCE), subsequently enjoying greatest approval from both music review-ers and audience alike.

We're bold enough to dare the prognosis that "Tieru" will find at least as much appraisal, if not even knock the celebrated predecessor off its throne. Gabin Dabirés third album's got all it takes to prove itself to be the strongest one in his career so far; and it may be rightfully claimed that "Tieru" is to be counted among the best releases in the repertoire range between African music and contemporary Pop as yet.