Mor Thiam: Dini Safarrar review – Senegalese drummer’s 1973 classic

Dini Safarrar
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Artist: MOR THIAM
Genre: Jazz
Label: Jazzman

Here's a sight to delight the serious record collectors in the audience. Originally a limited edition release in 1973, the Senegalese drummer's superb album now receives a reissue and a welcome opportunity for re-evaluation thanks to the Jazzman dudes. Thiam moved to St Louis in the early 1970s and played with many jazz musicians in the city before recording Dini Safarrar ("drums of fire") to raise money for famine relief in Africa. It's his rolling grooves which have ensured this album stood the test of time and proved so enticing to several generations of beat-diggers. Ayo Ayo Nene is a magnificently deep, spiritual jazz odyssey with beautifully hazy brass colouring in the percussive pockets, while Kanfera is a ferocious, buckwild, thumping adventure into wide-eyed, feverish Afrofunk. Thiam released other albums and passed the musical torch to his rapper son Akon, but it's Dini Safarrar which truly ensures his legacy. jazzmanrecords.co.uk