Eyes Open (Youssou N'Dour album)

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Eyes Open
Studio album by
Youssou N'Dour
Released1992
StudioXippi
GenreMbalax[1]
Label40 Acres and a Mule Musicworks/Columbia
ProducerYoussou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour chronology
Set
(1990) 		Eyes Open
(1992) 		Special Noël
(1993)

Eyes Open is an album by the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour, released in 1992 via Spike Lee's 40 Acres and a Mule Musicworks label.[2][3][4] A video was shot for "Africa Remembers".[5] N'Dour supported the album with a North American tour.[6] Eyes Open was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the "Best World Music Album" category.[7]

Production[edit]

Recorded at N'Dour's studio in Dakar, Senegal, the album was produced by the musician.[5][8] The majority of the songs were sung in Wolof.[9] N'Dour contributed liner notes that described the references in his songs.[10] "Hope" is a paean to N'Dour's grandmother.[11] "Country Boy" is about leaving rural life for an urban existence.[12] Assane Thiam contributed on talking drum.[13]

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Calgary HeraldB+[14]
Robert ChristgauB+[15]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[16]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide[17]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[18]

Newsday deemed the album "an annoying yet informative dispatch, a disappointing example of the new cultural multinationalism hovering on the upmarket fringes of so-called world music (so-called, because the marketing term smacks of a western ethnocentrism that assumes we are not the world)."[19] Stereo Review wrote that "N'Dour continues to pump out a propulsive sound that's dazzling in its rich combination of rhythms and irresistible in its melodic urgency."[20] The Christian Science Monitor noted that "N'Dour continues to temper his artful confabulation of African sensibility and American funk."[21]

The Calgary Herald determined that "his band's lopingly propulsive rhythms will remind newcomers to soukous more of reggae's hypnotic sway than rock's straight-ahead rush."[14] Trouser Press stated that "the percussion is downplayed in favor of swooping fretless bass and rock-influenced guitars."[22] Robert Christgau opined that the "mbalax commitments mitigate any conceptual link to studio-rock."[15]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleLength
1."New Africa" 
2."Live Television" 
3."No More" 
4."Country Boy" 
5."Hope" 
6."Africa Remembers" 
7."Couple's Choice" 
8."Yo Lé Lé (Fulani Groove)" 
9."Survie" 
10."Am Am" 
11."Marie-Madeleine La Saint-Louisienne" 
12."Useless Weapons" 
13."The Same" 
14."Things Unspoken" 

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Eyes Open Review by Bob Tarte". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  2. ^ Andrews, Jon (July 1992). "Record & CD Reviews — Eyes Open by Youssou N'Dour". DownBeat. 59 (7): 46.
  3. ^ Garbarini, Vic (June 1992). "Music — Eyes Open by Youssou N'Dour and Super Etoile". Playboy. 39 (6): 21.
  4. ^ Gonzalez, Fernando (12 July 1992). "Out of Africa New Visions of Pop Possibilities". The Boston Globe. p. B25.
  5. ^ a b Rule, Sheila (5 September 1992). "An African Superstar Sings Out to the World". The New York Times. p. 1.11.
  6. ^ Feist, Daniel (6 November 1992). "N'Dour brings worldbeat vision to the Spectrum". The Gazette. Montreal. p. D8.
  7. ^ "Youssou N'Dour". Recording Academy. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Album Reviews — Eyes Open by Youssou N'Dour". Billboard. 104 (26): 46. 27 June 1992.
  9. ^ Randall, Neil (16 July 1992). "Eyes Open Youssou N'Dour". The Kitchener-Waterloo Record. p. C17.
  10. ^ Harrison, Tom (27 November 1992). "Duty, pop in balance: The music of Senegal". The Province. p. C24.
  11. ^ Jennings, Nicholas (5 November 1992). "N'Dour set to take on world". Toronto Star. p. E9.
  12. ^ Pareles, Jon (9 November 1992). "A Singer from Senegal By Way of the World". The New York Times. p. C11.
  13. ^ Birnbaum, Larry (May 1992). "Spins". Spin. 8 (2): 83.
  14. ^ a b Tremblay, Mark (28 June 1992). "Recent Releases". Calgary Herald. p. D4.
  15. ^ a b "Youssou N'Dour". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  16. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 6. MUZE. p. 134.
  17. ^ MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 2000. p. 554.
  18. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 497, 498.
  19. ^ Gehr, Richard (31 May 1992). "N'Dour and the New World Music Order". Fanfare. Newsday. p. 15.
  20. ^ "Popular Music — Eyes Open by Youssou N'Dour". Stereo Review. 57 (6): 88. June 1992.
  21. ^ Wheeler, Drew (22 June 1992). "Youssou N'Dour Eyes Open". The Arts. The Christian Science Monitor. p. 12.
  22. ^ "Youssou N'Dour". Trouser Press. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
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