Friday, November 19 2010
Various Artists: The Rough Guide to Desert Blues
Not sure where to proceed from Tinariwen? The Rough Guide sorts it all out for you
Wednesday, October 6 2010
Khaïra Arby: Timbuktu Tarab
What's unfamiliar here is Arby herself, driving everything forward at a coruscating pace.
Thursday, February 25 2010
Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté: Ali and Toumani
This is a deep, darkly beautiful work, and the kind of interplay between these two men is exceedingly rare in any type of music.
Monday, June 1 2009
Vieux Farka Touré: Fondo
Fondo is not world music so much as music from the world.
Tuesday, September 9 2008
Various Artists: The Rough Guide to the Music of Mali
An album that is paradoxically almost redundant and almost perfect.
Monday, November 12 2007
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Segu Blue
If Kouyaté is trying to turn himself into the Diabaté of the ngoni, an innovator who takes ancient instruments and tunes and moves them forward, then he's going about it in the right way.
Tuesday, May 29 2007
Various Artists: The Rough Guide to the Blues
Twenty-two track compilation covers eight decades of blues music, from Mamie Smith to Ali Farke Touré, with mixed results.

































