-by David Luhrssen

The African nation of Mali is little known, but the impoverished, land-locked contry has gained the ears of world music fans through the recordings of Tinariwen.  Fourteen members strong, the Malian band is a powerful mixture of ancient and recent, a chorus of electric guitars in a circle of gourds, rattles and percussion.  Funky rhythms meet ululations and call-and-response choruses.  The result suggests John Lee Hooker if he had been raised in Islamic Africa--an organic fusion of primal blues, rock, and indigenous sounds.