'Tamala' ("travelers") brings the Senegalese musicians Mola Sylla (vocals, xalam, kalimba) and Bao Sissoko (kora) together with the Belgian violinist Wouter Vandenabeele. It's far from the first Euro-African crosspollination project combining African stringed instruments with their Western counterparts, but in this particular case it resulted in a truly enchanting album. In his often poetic sounding lyrics, Mola Sylla talks about subjects like being carried away by the gentle flow of a river focussing on earth, air, flora and fauna (opener 'Salubrité'), the bond between mother and child ('Kure Ndey'), or being so love-struck you start losing your mind ('Xafamaia'), but fact is the vocals are subordinate to the meditative interplay of the three musicians. Worth a special mention is instrumental 'Ceppe', dedicated to ASSAPE/CEPPE, a Senegalese organization offering training opportunities to street children in Dakar, Mola, Bao and Wouter are proud ambassadors of. True gem of an album!