Immigrés

The sound of being at a late-night backyard party illuminated by string lights on a hot summer night with a glass bottle in your hand. Really fun, and has no bloat at all.

Not the type of music i would usually listen, but i loved it. The production is really good, all the drums sound fantastic and the vocals are wonderful.

“Immigrés” by Youssou N’Dour (1988) Gipsy Kings, meet Bob Marley. The West African country Senegal is the grand exception to the dictum “The worst thing you can be is a former French colony”. And Senegal is perhaps is the world’s best hope for an exemplary and peaceable Mohammedan nation. Out of Senegal comes N’Dour (one of Paul Simon’s collaborators on his album “Graceland” [1986–percussion on “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”]—Simon may have “appropriated” African musicians, but it sure didn’t hurt their subsequent careers). N’Dour is an able vocalist who has assembled a sizable team of performers in this rhythmic treat. This is your horizon-expanding opportunity to enlarge the musical palate. The lyrics to the opening song “Immigrés” playfully give sage advice to those who are contesting a disputed election: Have a cookie and get over it. I laughed out loud. However, I was unable find any other lyrics online (too bad—they are in Wolof, I believe, and are essential for seriously assessing this work), but the real substance of this album is the colorful and exciting instrumental work, especially percussion. The four tracks are multidimensional, well-composed, evocative, and extended. Sorry, I had to give up on “Taaw”—I could never find the groove. Play this as background music while you work, and you’ll not only be efficient, but you’ll also be eager to wrap your arms around a world of music. Who could ask for more on a Monday morning? 3/5

This album is awesome. The songs were long but never got boring. Consistently fun throughout.

THIS IS AWESOME

I quite like world music, so I enjoyed this one.

sacré bleu!

Decent world music, interesting to hear once but that's it

Oh, this is wonderful. Joyful, richly arranged, musically gorgeous songs. Youssou N'Dour has really found the sweet spot where traditional Senegalese sounds blend perfectly with hints of Western pop, funk and jazz. The synths are actually pretty restrained and balanced for that era, so I don't know why anyone would single them out for criticism. Overall, this is really splendid. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): Taaw, Badou, Immigrés/Bitim Rew, Pitche Mi

Really liked this! Don't have much to say, it was groovy. 9

Fun rhythms, fun melodies and instrumentals. This is such interesting, moving music!

Very pleasant listen. As with much African music, I can't quite put my finger on what I do and don't like.

Great experience getting some exposure to Senegal, but I still find it absurd to randomly throw in world content into a list of popular genres.

Im a fan of juju music and I am surprised that King Sunny Ade didn't make this list. However, this album certainly rivals his best work. Great record. Amazing voice and great instrumentation.

I was not familiar with this particular album, but I really love Youssou N'Dour, so this particular assignment came as a "heck yes!" for me. As mentioned in a prior review, it's a bit hard to rate albums that aren't in English because I can't compare songwriting when I don't understand the lyrics. But dang, I love the SOUND of this album. The drums are amazing, the layers of guitar and brass, the sound of the vocals. Just wonderful. Wikipedia tells me that this album was criticized for the use of synthesizers? I like the synth sounds! So there you go. Love it. 5/5

Awesome sound. I loved it; my cats loved it.

Fun, upbeat, different to what I would usually listen to. Honestly thoroughly enjoyed listening to this short album.

Almost halfway through the list, and the "Other" origin is consistently rated higher than "UK" and "US". A bit surprising to me, but especially the picks from Africa have been excellent, and Immigrés from legend Youssou N'Dour is no exception. A perfect blend of percussion, bass and synth.

Joyous. I saw him on Peter Gabriel’s “So”tour in 1986. Became a huge fan. This is a great album!

Awesome album

Great world drumming album!

went absolutely crazy on this one. excellent instrumentals, catchy riffs and infectious rhythms. excellent excellent work

Brilliant, of course. 5 stars.

The African entries on this list are mostly top class. This album by the former Senegalese minister of tourism is no exception.

Really good music. This is the type of s*** that I want when I started listening to a list of albums like this.

Big beautiful groove

Loved it, magical stuff.

Very pleasant listening. Unfortunate that it was storming today as this should be listened to in the back yard at a barbecue.

Not something I would usually listen to, but pretty good. Good musicianship.

Could use more Paul Simon.

Nice change. Can feel the 80's in this one.

Really interesting to hear Senegalese music. Throughly enjoyed it to begin with but couldn't listen for too long

Instrumental is nice but the vocals are not my type.

2.5 | No me terminó de convencer. Aprecio que esté bien hecho y que su calidad de compositor y mezcla con ritmos es correcta. De hecho hasta humor tenía para algo tipo Afro Beat, pero no me terminó de cuajar. Si lo comparo con algo como Fela Kuti siento que al menos en este disco Fela gana de calle facilmente. Quizá es la instrumentación, se termina escuchando con las partes electrónicas medio... apagadas? No estoy seguro pero simplemente fue un disco que vino, se fue y no encendió mucho en mí, aunque se escucha tecnicamente correcto. Para ser tantos ritmos africanos algo le falta de caracter.

Nice enough vibe but I don’t really enjoy his tone.

This is straight up Senegalese music. Lots of percussion/African band sound. 4/10.

trust me, this is not an album you need to hear before you die.

Radio gazelle

Beautiful and vibrant!!

I love the interplay between strings, percussion and voice here, with twists and turns around every corner!

As good as World Music gets.

Muhkeaa soittoa

Wow, this viscerally takes me back to my childhood. Sub 10 - maybe 6 or 7? My very first media device of any description, that was mine rather than the family's, was a crystal radio kit. You pushed the components into a perforated cardboard circuit board, wired them up, connected a wire to a radiator to act as an antenna, and listened through a little ear piece that looked like an old fashioned hearing aid. It had no power source of its own, and seemed like magic to me! It was not capable of picking up too many radio stations, but one thing it reliably picked up quite strongly was a show playing world music that sounded a lot like this. Probably the first music that _I_ sought out for myself, rather than was just passively exposed to. Fave track - "Immigrés/Bitim Rew" I guess, but the whole album is lovely....

Jeg lå og vippede mellem en 4'er og en 5'er, for jeg ved ikke, hvor ofte den vil komme på i fremtiden, men jeg blev simpelthen i for godt humør til at rate den andet. Fantastisk instrumentation, interessant stemme, rigtigt sommeralbum

N'Dour takes the jazzy relaxed open feel of 70s West African Golden-era of Afro-Cuban rumba (from his Star Band de Dakar days) and opens it up. This album lowers the role of the guitar and makes space to incorporate more Senegalese musical traditions (the interwoven griot-style vocals, the wide range of hand drums and the talking drum) and for some smooth jazz sounding horns/keyboards. The horns are great, but the keys, combined with the very 80s production and the bass tone in particular, do give this a very corny dated feel. Along with Salif Keita's, N'Dour is one of the cornerstones of the whole Putomayo world music 'genre' and forged a sound that would become the somewhat stultifying generic default for West African musicians seeking an international audience, combining glossy global sheen with the authenticating use of local instruments. But here in its nascent stage, there's plenty of energy and excitement to the music, and even the corny keyboard sounds have an endearing nostalgic wistfulness to them.

there is absolutely no significance to whatever the random generator throws at me, so me getting a rly great record for my day 100 milestone isnt crazy, but it being my first easy First Listen 5/5 of the entire project does feel a lil extraordinary. ive been listening a lot lately to the black saint and the sinner lady, an absolutely unhinged musical accomplishment that combines a wide variety of disciplines into something that feels so effortlessly singular yet also in conversation with so many strands of history. i am far less familiar with the styles and cultures being mixed here, but even after just one listen it feels comparably vibrant and unstoppable, channeling the most color and complexity possible into pure gut-level dance and emotion. the feelings sliders are thrown way towards joyousness, togetherness, and healing. i have no idea how u even start to make music like this. i should explore a lot more west african pop whenever i feel the mental capacity for such a task

Loved this album. Have no idea what he’s singing about. But that really helps to emphasize how great the music and melodies are.

4.5/5

Can't get fresher than this

This album took me by surprise. I knew the voice thanks to Peter Gabriel. Blown away by this album and instantly became a favorite

Че за кайфарик

Can tell from the first 10 seconds that I’m going to enjoy this. The sound mixing is wonderful. Really balanced. Loving this.

Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer and bandleader. His strong, soaring voice is the central feature of these upbeat, rhythmic tracks. He was featured in a Peter Gabriel song, "In Your Eyes," which catapulted N'Dour to international fame. Touring with Gabriel gave N'Dour a chance to perform world-wide. Immigres is an album N'Dour released just before becoming a star, and is a good sample of the music N'Dour made relatively early in his career. These are infectious, danceable songs with universal appeal.

Didn’t know what was being sung but it really doesn’t matter. This album has great energy and has a little of everything instrumental wise and at a high level.

Just amazing. Put this on right as I headed out to walk the dog, and what a great listen on a nice breezy 63 degree (F) morning!

This is the stuff. Never heard of Youssou and probably never would have without the album generator. This is why I'm here. Pitche Mi is standout for me. Nice separation of instruments, lots of good grooves. Just exactly perfect for an early Sunday morning.

Outrageous! What a record! Absolute education in how to blend 4000 musical genres and make them all harmonise perfectly! Completely took me by surprise! 4.7

Really fun sound. I had never heard this before, but I love this kind of thing. Great party music.

What an incredible tenor

I know nothing about this at all but saw on Spotify that this dude was on "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel and that's how the larger world population found out about him. I can get quite into African music because it's so different to so much else, and I am enjoying this from the first chords. This rules. It's catchy while still being strange and meandering.

Joyous! Superb voice, superb rhythm. Been watching the AFCON 2024 and the crazy scenes, so this feels timely. sadly for Youssou, Senegal got knocked out. My awareness of him extends basically to 7 Seconds, so this was lovely to hear his earlier, more traditional work. Although I understand it was criticised for using synths. Well they aren't intrusive to my ear. I guess when they come in halfway through Taaw they arguably take away more than add to the rhythm, but otherwise. This is just a delight, uplifting and fantastic from start to finish. Obviously I haven't a scooby what he's singing about, which is a shame, as from what I can work out he's a sound geezer. I didn't want Badou to end, 5 minutes wasn't enough!

Enjoyed all of this album very much, had never heard it in full before. No wonder western musicians were queuing up to collaborate! Will certainly be listening again. I can't think of anything I'd change so in the absence of 9 out of 10 I've rounded up. 5 stars from husband, too.

Beautiful music

Beautiful album from the former minister of tourism for Senegal

Joyful, catchy and easily a relisten

Familiar funkiness with some greatly influential African twist. You can see N'Dour's fingerprints across so much, and that's a good thing.

This was a great listen. This was perfect to have on while I'm doing what needs to be done. Lots of very subtle percussion in the background gave the tracks some extra depth.

This was super sweet. I loved it. Awesome vocals and I loved the rhythms and guitar work. Cool stuff

This was great! I loved every moment.

Loved it. I really want to go to Senegal in the meantime I'll listen to big Youssou.

Upea ääni ja hieno levy. Edelleen toivois että olis enemmän tämmösiä uusia tuttavuuksia listalla Metallican cover-keikkojen sijasta.

Erittäin kova! Fresh niinku nuoret sanoo 4/5

Great percussion and voice. Very upbeat.

nicee

I was not expecting to like this one, but was surprised to find a really enjoyed it! Pitche Mi was a standout, so emotional.

Interesting sounds but pretty repetitive. I’m glad it was short. 7

A brief, breezy and energetic album from one of Africa's finest musicians of the late 20th Century, packed to the brim with a neverending barrage of synths fusing with Afrobeat. It doesn't overstay its welcome and deserving of further attention. Favorites: Taaw, Immigrés.

I love being exposed to music from cultures from around the world. This is a fantastic example of something I never would have known existed or had sought out on my own without this project's help. Awesome stuff!

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Imigres, Taaw

This is a great, fun and interesting record. Only 4 quite long tracks, best song being Taaw. Glad I listened to this one.

Loved it

Buen disco. Con mucho ritmo

Very Interesting

Enjoyed this album. Nice chill background music. Relaxing percussion and vocals.

Instrumentally compelling with a consistent sound throughout

Very good!

A pleasant surprise. Never dabbled into this genre before, but the music is incredible. At some points often a bit bloated, but full of talent and ambition. Favourite Tracks: - Pitche Mi - Taaw - Badou Overall Rating: 4/5

Intense and dynamic. Dancers probably find it danceable. One's not qualified to say much more than it sounds cool and substantive and lord knows we've all heard much worse world music and if this made him a global star, it must be good, right?

This kind of unexpected album is one of the most exciting things about this list. It's far from my favorite music genre, but it's far because of my lack of knowledge of how big the world is. I hope to keep this project for the following years, and I wish to receive more classical but even more of these different and culturally challenging albuns. Good music, great experience. (Unfortunately, the Wikipedia page for the album is too short, but the Youssou N'Dour page helps with it)

Happy, easy listening. Good for the background of another activity.

A gorgeous slice of west African folk/blues/afrobeat music. The tracks do become a bit background after the 20 minute mark, but the polarising synths mentioned in other reviews were too elusive for my ear. A real treat.

This felt like one cohesive piece rather than 4 individual tracks. I rather much enjoyed the whole thing.

something different, fun and cheerful

It's a groove

8/10. Pretty good, I see why I had to learn about this guy in French class

nice album

Great album. 4 Heard it while reading the bible. Matched the vibe

8/10 I really loved the beats and instrumentals on this, and it was a nice change of pace from Western music. However, I found it repetitive at times and sometimes the vocals sounded really nasal in a way that I didn't care for

sounds important i guess. fun and short! 4 stars

Mellow afrobeat, this opens a whole new world.