This northern Malian quartet first began attracting attention when a song they wrote with Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s appeared on one of Damon Albarn’s Africa Express compilations in 2013. The hard-rocking desert blues of Soubour (co-written with Zinner) proved an infectious blend of loping, looping Malian melody and gruffer American riffs inspired by John Lee Hooker and Jimi Hendrix.
The band (from the Songhoy ethnic group) formed when Islamic extremists banned music in their home town of Timbuktu and they fled to the Malian capital of Bamako. You can hear both the exile’s homesick yearning and the musician’s rebellion in the 11 songs that appear on their debut album.
Produced by Zinner and featuring backing vocals from Albarn, this is 40 minutes of energetic Africa-blues-rock boiled down from the weekly, four-hour sets they play in a tiny club outside the city.
Tracklist
1. Soubour
2. Irganda
3. Al Hassidi Terei
4. Sekou Oumaru
5. Nick
6. Ai Tchere Bele
7. Wayei
8. Petit Metier
9. Jolie
10. Desert Melodie
11. Mali
Mp3 [V0] - HERE!
Um, thank you! As always great work mixing in the random, obscure, or generally unknown or underrated with the live. Thank you for this one.
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