Best of Ambassadeurs

With songs stemming from two previous albums — Best of Ambassadeurs and Salif Keita, Kante Manfila and Les Ambassadeurs, this album is something of a low-range greatest-hits collection. One noticeable thing missing is the balofon playing of Mory Kante, which suggests that he had already moved on by the time of the recordings. Despite his absence, the music is well done. Salif Keita, the internationally known albino singing sensation, puts a good deal of soul into his work, and it shows. The other star of the show is Kante Manfila, whose later arrangements would involve heavy use of synthesizers and the like, but here he remains firmly in his malinke guitar style. For listeners of world music in general, Salif Keita might already be known. The nice thing here is to be able to hear older versions of Ambassadeurs works — although sadly after Kante had left — performed differently than the group later embraced more fully by the world music market. Check it out for the nostalgia if you're one of the initiated, but otherwise pick up a more commercial release of Ambassadeurs material first.