Annarella and Django Sparkle on Jazzy ‘Jouer’ » PopMatters

After assembly by way of their shared participation within the transcontinental music venture Wau Wau Collectif in 2021, Swedish flutist Annarella Sörlin and Mali-born, Senegal-based ngoni participant Django Diabate went their separate methods–at first. The artistic spark was already lit; three years later, we’ve Jouer, the duo’s launch as Annarella and Django. There’s a simplicity to the fundamental thought of Jouer encompassed in its title; in the end, this titular sense of play comes by way of from begin to end between the 2 very expert musicians whose names accompany the album. For that simplicity, although, there’s nothing flat or small or boring about Jouer. This can be a spacious and infrequently shocking collaboration, joyfully and thoroughly produced.

Opening the report is a short introductory monitor that includes solely the 2 key gamers, Annarella interweaving layers of acoustic guitar and flute with Django’s nimble ngoni. Balancing ease and power, they open up an inviting sonic area for themselves and their listeners that solely grows extra partaking on the next monitor, “Aduna Ak Asaman”, the place swaying rhythms from Annarella and collaborators Lars Fredrik Swahn, Karl Jonas Winqvist, and Per Lager and a vigorous fanfare from famend Swedish people musician Ale Möller on shawm again the dialogue between flute and ngoni.

The combo grows weightier however no much less spirited on “Dakar-Orebrö”, a track that alludes to the important thing gamers’ hometowns and options the introduction of Django’s spouse Marietou Kouyaté on vocals, Möller returning with some particularly jazzy trumpet and a mattress of radiant synths.

There may be at all times extra to play and pleasure and, for that matter, good music than what’s discovered on the floor, and Jouer isn’t any exception. “No Extra” options recordings of economist Richard Wolff discussing the inextricability of human affected by the capitalist system sandwiched between melancholy traces from ngoni and flute. The grim image he paints makes the next monitor, “Sarajalela”, an ode to musically derived happiness, all of the extra significant. Annarella’s flute traces right here take particularly intricate and hovering trajectories.

“Kosmik Horisont” and “Levels of Freedom” comply with, more and more transcendent with rippling touches of psychedelic keys and guitars coloring the combination. Poppy vocal piece “Megaphone” brings us again to extra grounded motion, Marietou and Django singing over trendy drum beats. The light glow of “Hommage á Dallas Dialy Mory Diabate”, the levity of the interlude “Tankefigur”, and the immersive “Pluie Melancholique” shut Jouer, a gentle and gradual touchdown marked by never-tapering ability.

When Annarella and Django play, it’s for the love of enjoying. Jouer is unassuming and unpretentious in presentation, and but the music inside it sparkles, its effervescence rising from deeply rooted creativity. These artists pay attention to one another as they select their paths, and their respect for each other builds a dynamic core that holds collectively because it strikes. The collaborators who be a part of them solely improve Annarella and Django’s joint work, including to the sonic richness of Jouer with out taking away from its central figures. Jouer is lush with thought, ability, and, sure, play, intangible components that make this genre-defying album excellent and satisfying.