The seven hundred and thirteenth album: #713 Baaba Maal - Lam Toro
I struggle a bit with the term world music as the catch-all term for everything that's not western, and even something like 'worldbeat' isn't that much clearer to me. What this album has is a fusion of Senegalese music, which has similarities to its surrounding countries, with a heavy Latin American influence that serves to broaden the appeal of several tracks. Although the original local music shines through, I don't struggle to relate to it as I might have with similar tracks in the past, instead its light fusion elements really bring the strengths to the forefront..