Present Tensed

Amadou & Mariam @ Park West (Chicago, June 2009)

Our favorite blind duo from Mali, Amadou & Mariam, played a fan­tas­tic set at the Park West on Tues­day night.

It’s the third time that I’ve seen them play Chicago, and I have to say that if you can see them in a club atmos­phere, you def­i­nitely must!  The sound at the Park West was close to per­fect on Tues­day night.  While the crowd wasn’t as inspired as the one dur­ing 2006 Mil­len­nium Park Show (one of the best crowds I’ve been a part of) or as lively as the Lol­la­palooza 2008 one, the show itself was prob­a­bly bet­ter.  Even the Tribune’s Music reporter enjoyed it!

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Here are a few of my pic­tures from the Park West:

[flickr border=“2”]photo:3591697270[medium][/flickr]

[flickr border=“2”]photo:3590889027[medium][/flickr]

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Also, here’s Coulibaly for your lis­ten­ing pleasure:

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I have been enjoy­ing their cur­rent release “Wel­come to Mali”.  If you’re brand new to them, I’d say start with “Dimanche a Bamako”.

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