t's eight years since Oumou Sangaré last released an album of new material and much has changed since we last heard from the greatest living female voice in African music. The power of her voice and the potency of her message remain inviolable but with a new label, an all new production team and a vital new set of songs, her latest album Mogoya (it translates roughly as "people today"), reprensents an exciting chapter in Oumou Sangaré's storied career. While her sound remains rooted deep in the continuity of Malian tradition, at the same time this is Oumou as we have never heard her before. Recorded in Stockholm by Andreas Unge, and produced in Paris with the crack French production team A.L.B.E.R.T, Mogoya is a record that both draws upon a rich musical heritage and looks to the future. Traditional African instruments such as the kamele n'goni (harp), karignan (metal scraper) and calabash percussion are augmented by electric guitar, bass, keyboards and even synths while Tony Allen, once Fela Kuti's band leader, guests on drums. Its only the fifth studio album since Oumou's spectacular debut announced the arrival of an audaciously fearless new African voice some 27 years ago. But Mogoya sounds and feels like a career defining moment. The rich fruit of hard-won experience over a life spent confronting prejudices and obstacles - and triumphing over them. Tracklisting: 1. Bena Bena 2. Yere Faga feat. Tony Allen 3. Fadjamou 4. Mali Niale 5. Kamelemba 6. Djoukourou 7. Kounkoun 8. Minata Waraba 9. Mogoya