Rarely will you get an opportunity to hear World Music artists both ways - As they sound for their local market and the way they do for export. This lovingly compiled double CD succeeds in doing both.

Hermas Zopoula is a singer and guitarist from Burkina Faso in West Africa. He works as a translator for the national airline Air Burkina by day and turns into a fledgling but increasingly popular crooner at night. Sweet-voiced and mellow, his album ‘Espoir’ was recorded at government studios last year and shows a confident showman at work.

‘Espoir’ is dominated by keyboards, digital rhythms and some nice guitar work. The album bubbles along gently - This is no Afro Funk but rather a lounge album. Hermas’ lyrics are deeply rooted in religious beliefs and sung in French and local dialects Sissali and Dioula.

For my ears, ‘Espoir’ is a bit too polished and a bit too fond of studio gimmicks. Hermas’ voice even gets the chipmunk treatment on the title track. Bad idea to my ears. But then again, my ears are most probably looking for different things in a singer than the proverbial man on the street in Burkina Faso.

Jonathan Dueck, the producer of this 2-CD set, must have had similar thoughts for he went on a day’s trek over dirt paths to record Hermas ‘unplugged’ in his yard. Just the singer and his beat up acoustic guitar. And suddenly it all falls into place. Hermas voice, still warm and smooth sounding, takes on a more urgent edge and his songs come to life to the sparse picking of Hermas’ guitar.

Arguably, I feel like this because the solo recordings on the second CD mirror the Western ideal of authentic music, i.e. the image of ‘a-man-and-his-guitar’. As soon as Hermas strikes up a scratchy, solitary chord I listen up expecting some serious storytelling to happen. Hermas doesn’t disappoint and I bet the second CD of the ‘Espoir’ set is likely to get more spins on your stereo than the first one.

All in all, ‘Espoir’ offers two completely different sides of a singer with a distinctive voice and a knack for combining African pop and folk-style songwriting.

Watch Hermas Zopoula Perform ‘Companion De Route’ At Home

Companion de Route from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

Now listen to ‘Courons Courez’ from Hermas’ studio album ‘Espoir’. Just click play on the MP3 player below or download the track for free from our RSS feed.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

We say: