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I'm a big fan of Syllart Records. Most played label in my collection for the last 2 years. Sterns e-mailed me about a new issue yesterday, so I downloaded it from Amazon, and went off into the web, catching up with what had been going on since Ibrahima Sylla's death in 2013. So the firm is now led by Binetou Sylla, a twenty-five year old babe, Ibrahima's oldest child, and his widow, not, surprisingly, his brother Baila Sylla. So here's Binetou, definitely a nice front lady for the firm: She's not JUST a babe. She has an MA in history and was pursuing a PhD before her father named her head of the business 7 months before he died. What's just come out - on 15 October - is this album that Ibrahim produced, or mostly produced, before his death: After a quick listen (and I DO admit to having been a bit distracted sometimes by Binetou's photo :)) I think it's the best she's done since 'Sa kunu sa' in 1992 - certainly better than the ones she'd previously recorded for Syllart. Binetou is starting slowly. She may have grown up with this music all around her and the artists visiting her father's home, but she's been pursuing an academic course in life, not working with her father. Apparently, she's visiting West Africa every 2 to 3 months, looking for new stuff. But she doesn't feel under pressure to produce material before she feels ready and is focusing for the moment on raising the profile of Syllart and its products that are being reissued in the west. She's said, however, that she's working on completing an album by Ablaye Ndiaye that her father hadn't finished. So it's still worth watching Syllart Records. MG