Reviews
Oumar Konaté Radiates Passion for His Craft on 'I Love You Inna'
Oumar Konaté shreds, howls, and loves his job on new Malian blues rock release I Love You Inna.
12 Sep 2019
Recent
Music
Tinariwen's 'Amadjar' Is a Particularly Well-Polished Jewel
Saharan collective Tinariwen reign over a star-studded album of sincere desert blues on their latest gem Amadjar.
09 Sep 2019
Music
Samba Touré Speaks the Truth on 'Wande'
Malian desert blues musician Samba Touré speaks his barebones truth on the striking Wande.
20 Jul 2018
Music
Malian-American Fusion Band Toubab Krewe Releases 'Stylo', Sure to be a Hit Live
Globally-minded jam band Toubab Krewe defies narrow classification with often unpredictable grooves on Stylo.
26 Feb 2018
Music
Boubacar Traoré: Dounia Tabolo
Mali's last original bluesman, Boubacar Traoré, takes a trip to the Mississippi Delta on trans-Atlantic triumph Dounia Tabolo.
28 Nov 2017
Music
Leila Gobi: 2017
On new album 2017, Afropop artist Leila Gobi is a one-woman sugar rush.
20 Nov 2017
Music
Rokia Traoré: Né So
With her latest album, Malian singer-songwriter Traoré has made something beautiful and moving from the traumas of war and personal crises
25 Apr 2016
Music
Benyoro: Benyoro
A razor-sharp group of six instrumentalists founded by a Californian who plays djeli n'goni and guitar.
10 Oct 2014
Music
Oumar Konate: Addoh
Plenty of grinding jangle on the debut solo album from this talented Malian guitarist.
09 Sep 2014
Interviews
Spirit of the Sahara: An Interview with Tinariwen
As guitarist and singer Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni explained sagely, Tinariwen's music has a global message.
27 Feb 2014
Music
Habib Koité / Eric Bibb: Brothers in Bamako
Two musicians merging with as little friction as possible.
28 Jan 2013
Music
Alhousseini Anivolla: Anewal / The Walking Man
The latest in a surge of guitar music from the western Sahara region.
29 Aug 2012
Music
Arnaldo Antunes / Edgard Scandurra / Toumani Diabaté: A Curva da Cintura
The register shifts, now more West African and sweeping, now more Hendrix and restless.
30 Jul 2012
Music
Sibiri Samake: Dambe Foli
System Krush has done the right thing and given us tracks that are long.
12 Feb 2012
Music
Mamani Keita: Gagner L'Argent Français
The Malian singer stays steady and firm at the centre while the Frenchman roams baroque around her, fascinated by her ringing treelike isolation.
01 Sep 2011
Music
Various Artists: The Rough Guide to African Guitar Legends
The boundary for this compilation is huge, and surrounds all of Africa, a continent with more guitarists and guitar styles than anyone can easily count.
29 Aug 2011
Music
Sorry Bamba: Volume One 1970 - 1979
It's starting to feel -- heady delusion -- as if the rest of the globe is going to be able to relive 1970s West Africa completely just by bouncing from label to label.
24 Jul 2011
Music
Boubacar Traoré: Mali Denhou
The sound of a man in no hurry and his patient guitar, which is less imperious than the guitar of Touré.
12 Jun 2011
Music
Khaïra Arby: Timbuktu Tarab
What's unfamiliar here is Arby herself, driving everything forward at a coruscating pace.
05 Oct 2010
Music
Salif Keita: La Différence
The sound is so steady and so fluid that it might have turned to mush if it didn't have so many strong and piquant things bearing it up.
01 Sep 2010
Music
Bako Dagnon: Sidiba
The album searches for a framework that will suit its star, trying this and that, probing. It wants to sell her, but how?
23 May 2010
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