Wau Wau Collectif – Mariage LP Sahel Sounds

Wau Wau Collectif’s second album, Mariage, is instilled with a newfound sense of purpose. Expanding upon the inspirational themes of their acclaimed 2021 debut, Yaral Sa Doom (Educate The Young), this long-distance collaboration from musicians in Senegal, led by Aurora Kane, and Sweden’s Karl Jonas Winqvist is an even more stylistically expansive affair. Joyful children’s songs collide with fuzzy guitar solos and thumping hip-hop beats. Shimmering synths lift off from the plunky percussion of the balafon and versatile sounds of the 22-string kora. Familiar voices from the first album return with more explicitly political lyrics, while the music feels both rhythmically dense and sonically weightless, flowing from one spellbinding moment to the next.

Some of the rhythms that laid the foundation for Wau Wau Collectif’s second album were recorded during Winqvist’s 2018 Senegal trip that ignited the project, with a core group of musicians who may now be familiar to fans of their debut. These include flute master Ousmane Ba, whose softly rippling tone punctuates the bounce of “Necessaire” and frantically dances throughout “Mariage Force.” On “Baye Kate”, rapper Babacar “Babadi” Diol growls and rolls his Rs over swirling synths in a heartfelt tribute to farmers. Arouna Kane’s echo-drenched vocals return on “Le repair spirituel,” before he removes all effects on intimate closer “Liguey Len,” strumming so quietly that you can hear cars honking and crickets chirping in the background.