Talk:New Ancient Strings

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:New Ancient Strings/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Chiswick Chap (talk · contribs) 09:15, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

I'll have a go at this one. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:15, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Comments

• This is a well-written and reliably-sourced article and I have few comments to make.

• Thank you!

• The song titles should be provided with English translations from the Malian in the track listing. The section 'The tracks' of the CD booklet provides such translations.

•  Done — the track listing now gives Durán's literal translation of each phrase or notes its dedicatee

• The booklet further provides details of the origins of the songs, e.g. "Bi Lamban" ('Today's Lamban') is an updated version of the traditional Griot melody for their "Lamban" dance. The article should at least briefly state the origins of each song, whether it's traditional or who composed or updated it. This could be by extending the 'Musical content' section, or by adding a column to the Track listing (for composer or source, or both. For example, "Bi Lamban" could be documented "[Composer:] Diabate", "[Source]: Adapted from traditional Griot dance melody", or something of that sort.

•  Done — I used a format equivalent to the "sample credits" sections commonly seen for hip-hop/pop/etc albums (although I go into more detail, since these compositions are highly obscure). I felt that it was too cramped as a separate column.

• 'Recording' says that the album was mixed in London, cited to the booklet via AllMusic.com, but it isn't mentioned there; the back of the album however says Nick Parker and Tim Handley (not Durán as the article currently claims) edited it at Audio Edit. The cover states that Durán was producer and provided the photos, while the artwork is by Olivia Design. It'd be best to cite the album itself directly for these details.

•  Done — I actually did cite the CD booklet PDF directly, not via AllMusic; the only AllMusic citation without an author is to the release page indicating the timing of the digital download release. Those other credits you mention were also accurate in the "Personnel" section. Either way I've revised the bit in the "Recording" section to be clearer about responsibility for the mixing process.

• • I've added 'and rear cover' to the citation, as Handley is named there, not in the booklet.

• It's obviously a great pity that Ancient Strings doesn't have its own article yet, not this article's fault. Until such a thing exists, it would be valuable to have a little more detail on that article's content and achievement (even its reception), since this album is a response to it.

• I appreciate this note—I'm actually working on an article for Ancient Strings now! I know the "Background" section currently looks a little spare in its absence, but I hope to remedy that soon. Once it's done (won't be too long—hopefully within a week?), I intend to return to this article and re-calibrate the "Background" section as needed.

• Suggest we gloss Lucy Durán as an ethnomusicologist.

•  Done Good catch; I'm pretty sure I'd identified her as such at some point in the early drafting, but it must have gotten lost in the shuffle of revisions. —blz 2049 ➠ ❏ 22:26, 24 May 2022 (UTC)

Images

Lead image has suitable NFUR.

Other images all appear to be correctly licensed on Commons.

Summary

With these minor details, the article will be good to go. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:04, 24 May 2022 (UTC)

@Chiswick Chap: Thank you kindly for the review! I've addressed all of your points above; the only one that's still pending relates to your point about Ancient Strings and the "Background" section. I intend to publish an article on Ancient Strings soon, and I think it'll make more sense to revise this page's "Background" section once that one's in relatively stable shape. It's not going to be as extensive as the New Ancient Strings article is, obviously, and I intend to hit "save" on it within a week. My hope is to nominate them both as a dual WP:DYK, so that's a firm deadline since I'll need to act quickly to get the timing right. If you'd like, I'd be happy to revisit the "Background" issue with you once that one's done. —blz 2049 ➠ ❏ 22:35, 24 May 2022 (UTC)

Yes, the article would certainly benefit from an additional paragraph (or a 'Further'-linked subsection) in 'Background' about a bluelinked 'Ancient Strings'. Chiswick Chap (talk) 04:48, 25 May 2022 (UTC)