Diam

Daby Touré's first album for Real World. The songs on the album tell of Daby's life, of the people around him and of the world in general. He sings of relationships, his family, freedom and, above all, of being positive when times are hard. It is perfectly fitting then that the title, 'Diam', means peace, something that Daby has looked for throughout his life.

Diam by Daby Touré is a warm and tuneful collection of songs.
I knew little about him until I heard his distant, attractive voice at Womad weekend. Touré is a charismatic and likeable performer, accompanied at this festival by his own guitar and an accompanying trio. On the album he multitracks most of the instruments himself - including low derbouka, bass and percussion - but the soundscape is far from monochromatic. Additional studio musicians - ubiquitous Bumcello cellist Vincent Segalé, backing singer Lili and co-producer/keyboard player Cyrille Dufay - are deployed with great care to make an enjoyably mainstream world-pop album in which each track has a distinct character.
The Guardian (UK)

...a delightfully tuneful album that convincingly blends African and Western folk.
The plaintive acoustic guitar riffs and yearning voice recall the "desert blues" of Baaba Maal. There's the same sense of the lone voice calling out amid emmense space, though Touré's delivery is warmer and less starkly Islamic. Traditional motifs have been adapted into well-structured, memorable songs suffused with tenderness and a heart-warming campfire intimacy.
Daily Telegraph (UK)