After a good deal of time on the world music scene,
Wasis Diop finally received his first best-of compilation in 2003 dually on Mercury and Wrasse with
Everything Is Never Quite Enough. The tracks appearing on the album are culled from his previous three albums
Wasis Diop Sings Hyenes (the soundtrack to a film directed by his late brother),
No Sant, and
Toxu, as well as the stray album-opening "Le passeur" from L'Odyssee de l'Espece. Despite his obvious classification into the world music genre,
Diop carries influences from far and wide and incorporates them all into his music, be they of the world variety or otherwise. Jazz and rock have perhaps the strongest roles within his music, but only in tangential ways. The sound can best be described as pop, but in a manner entirely different from the usual (and now negative) connotations of the label. Vocals are always the lead instruments, and
Diop's guitar the second, with instruments both European and African taking their places further down in the pecking order, but adding subtle effects to the main sound structure gives the songs their real emotion and flavor. Without going into detail of the multiple varied influences and contributions of various musics on each song (which changes from track to track), one can simply summarize the album as a collection of works influenced by the concept and execution of travel, both physically and musically. It's an extremely high quality affair, and fans of African music (though not purists), cross-cultural sounds, and quality in general should be quite pleased with the results.