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Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Blog Country 149 - Mali

 


I'm happy to say that sourcing music from Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa,  has been the easiest one since Blog Country 115 Jamaica. This is primarily because I have a few albums featuring Malian artists and a sufficient number to save me digging in to the Sahel Sounds Samplers on Bandcamp

Khayem and Ernie are far more informative when it comes to the great music from this Country. 

Some Desert Blues to start with I think courtesy of Tinariwen is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of Northern Mali. From their 2006 album Aman Iman (Water is Life) on the Independiente label here is Awa Didgen

Next we have Kasse Mady Diabete  who was a Malian singer, musician and griot. His soft and particular voice with deep undertones – an atypical characteristic for a griot – earned him the nickname "The golden voice of Mali" From his 2008 album Manden Djeli Kan here is the opening track  Bandja.

Salif Keita often known as The Golden Voice of Africa is a member of the Keita royal family of Mali. From his 2002 album Moffou I give you Moussolou

From Global A Go-Go a 2007 Uncut album celebrating 20 Years of World Music we have Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (featuring Lobi Traore) with Banani which is taken from the Out/Here album Banani

We conclude with Songhoy Blues a desert blues band from Timbuktu who have enjoyed international recognition. From their 2017 album Resistance on the Transgressive label we have Bamaka.

Rest assured that Blog Country 150 is going to be considerably harder.


Tinariwen - Awa Didjen

Kasse Mady Diabete - Bandja

Salif Keita - Moussolou

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (ft Lobi Traori) - Banani

Songhoy Blues - Bamaka


4 comments:

  1. Are there many more of these? I've been stalled on 159 countries since March. All my efforts to appeal to the residents of Anguilla, Vatican City and the Northern Mariana Islands have been in vein.

    Also, excellent selection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good work CC- Mali is a goldmine of good music

    ReplyDelete