With 'Lamomali' singer and composer Matthieu Chedid aka M finally got to realize on of his dream projects. For this album the French-Lebanese-Egyptian musician joined forces with kora-virtuosos Toumani and Sidiki Diabate and for the vocal parts invited guests like Amadou & Mariam, Oxmo Puccino, Mamani Keita, Santigold and especially Fatoumata Diawara, whose voice can be heard in no less than five songs on 'Lamomali'. Even though in Paris M has already been working with Malian musicians for more than twenty years, he continues to consider himself a bit of an outsider; hence the title of the album, 'Lamomali', a play on words with "anomaly" and Mali. Opener 'Manitoumani' is an ode to Toumani Diabate and his instrument of choice the kora, and with the disco-flavored 'Ball De Bamako ', one of the most infectious songs on 'Lamomali', M does the same for the Malian capital Bamako. For 'Cet Air' M goes dubby afro-reggae, and in 'Le Bonheur' he intricately weaves together traditional Malian music with classical vocals and electronics. Because of its subject and the large number of guests making an appearance in 'Solidarité' (Ibrahim Maalouf, Sajay Khan, Santigold, Seu Jorge, Youssou N'Dour, Chacha...), the funky disco tune is somewhat reminiscent of classic charity singles like 'Do They Know It's Christmas' or 'We Are The World'. The most traditional song on 'Lamomali' is 'Mama' for which Mamani Keita joined forces with Moriba Diabate. The grandmother of M was author and poet Andrée Chedid, and the quote from her poem 'Toi', featured on the cover of the album, nicely summarizes the rationale behind this project: "Toi, qui que tu sois, suis bien plus proche qu'étrange."