Tal National - Kaani

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 17 / 9 / 2013

Label: Fat Cat Records
Format: CD

intro

Monotonous and disappointing fourth album from Niger-based group, Tal National

West-African and quite monotone until its sixth track 'Sarkan Fida' settles in, 'Kaani' showcases a poor selection of tracks. Flat melodies join bland rhymes and rhythms, and 'Kaani' appears like an obligatory contract-filler album for a London label, desperate to jump on the Brussels-Paris bandwagon. In a sense this is like an awful episode of 'Absolutely Fabulous' promoting Africa. This is, however, too harsh on the sometimes wonderful musicianship - on the last track 'BanganÃ©siba', you get a slight touch of congotronics, but a mere 140 seconds can't make up for an almost entire album worth of boredom. One, however, of course, can't condemn musicians from Niger getting signed up by Bjørk, Fat Cat and what not. My objection derives not from the view that the Fat Cat label has crafted this CD which would have normally appeared on a label like Crammed Disc, merely to get hip with the in-crowd. This album creeps towards its end. With great eagerness I put on this CD, yet the tracks tend to whine, and go on and on at great length. Niamey's Tal National evidently lack talent. Their indiffererence is ever-transparent. This album in a sense goes to show that we no longer have connoisseurs like Andy Kershaw and John Peel in the position to make comparisons. At some stage, someone should have told Fat Cat that 'Kaani', for the most part, is quite dull. 'Kaani' should have remained a cassette just decent enough to get passed on for further introspection.

Track Listing:-

1 Kaani
2 Zigda
3 Wongharey
4 Nouvelles
5 Tchana
6 Sarkin Fada
7 Kountche
8 Banganésiba

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/TalNational/
http://www.talnational.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.fat-cat.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/FatCatRecords
http://fatcat-records.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/fatcatrecords
https://twitter.com/FatCatRecords