Guardian live review, published 13 September 2007
World
Lolou
Momo's Kemia Bar, London, Tuesday 11 September 2007
*** (three stars)
Lolou is a six-piece group of musicians from different parts of Senegal, who formed in London last January. This means that they sing in a variety of different languages - Mandinka, Toucouleurs, Lebou and Wolof. Their line-up, of two singers, bass, drums, guitar and percussion, works in several popular idioms, while remaining distinctively West African.
The band is driven along by Elhadji Seye's bubbling bass, and the robustly forceful electric guitar of Jules Sow, who has mastered all the necessary African guitar styles, and can add a touch of American rock where needed.
As with many new and largely untested bands, there's a slight gaucheness to the performance, a mixture of confidence and anxiousness to please. So at this stage in their career, Momo's Kemia bar is the ideal venue; a friendly crowd packs the tiny space just metres from the stage area - there's only room for three or four people determined to dance to Lolou's easy grooves.
Some arrangements sound awkward - when Metty's atmospheric 6/4 groove suddenly lurches into a new feel, the cheerful middle section seems to come from a different song, and it's a while before the rhythm section settles back into a groove that shows them at their best. The double lead singer routine works well, with high voiced Birame Seck (from Casamance, in southern Senegal) and the gruffer Mamadou Toure from the Sine region, but it's the former whose songs remain in the mind, in particular his pleading vocals on the reggae-dominated Kenbitou.
Most of Lolou's songs are written by the band, sometimes drawn from traditional sources, like the slow, anthemic Gawlo, with a memorable riff that makes for a majestic ending. Abdou and Rama has a catchy chorus that builds nicely over two chords - perfect driving music punctuated by explosive djembe and congas.
John L. Walters