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Desert Blues
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Pasadena Weekly, Desert Blues >>
Beating the Winter Doldrums and Keeping up with Malian Music via the Internet
In only a few months we'll be feasting on festivals and free concerts - in Pasadena as well as Echo Park, downtown LA and on Santa Monica Pier - by artists of varying renown from around the globe, many of them from Africa. But summer still feels oddly far off. Until then, if you're hungry for new music from Africa but can't make it to the Temple Bar or Zanzibar in Santa Monica, you can be content with some new album releases and several podcasts and radio shows on the Internet.
There's been a steady flow of richly satisfying music pouring out of Africa over the past few years, especially from Mali - much of it labeled "desert blues" and thereby connected to American music. The indisputable rock stars of the realm are the members of Tinariwen, camel-riding Tuareg nomads who once packed Kalashnikov rifles alongside their electric guitars and spread their gospel of righteous rebellion against the government on cassettes passed by caravans throughout the Sahara. Nowadays, however, they're opening concerts for the Rolling Stones and being celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic for their rivetingly hypnotic desert blues-rock. Vieux Farka Touré, son of the late great Ali Farka Touré (generally regarded as the father of Malian desert blues, although he disdained the term), has also been reaping headlines for taking his father's legacy into the future. Other artists who have enhanced Mali's musical reputation include Habib Koité, Issa Bagayogo, Tartit, Oumou Sangaré, Amadou & Mariam and Rokia Traore, most of whom have brought their enthralling music to Los Angeles in recent years.
Keeping up with new releases can be daunting, especially as more acts get tossed onto the "desert blues" bandwagon. Two albums worth checking out are Toumast's "Ishumar" (just issued stateside by Real World) and Etran Finatawa's "Desert Crossroads" (due April 21 from Riverboat Records). Toumast is a duo comprised of Moussa Ag Keyna, a guitarist who once played with Tinariwen, and his ululating cousin Aminatou Goumar; their protest music is unmistakably influenced by Tinariwen, although - largely because it's more stripped down - not quite as engaging. Etran Finatawa is another rocking band of nomads who fuse the traditions and cultural concerns of the Tuareg and Wodaabe tribes in enticingly rhythmic music.
To keep up with new Malian artists and music - as well as their history - give a listen to DJ Nnamdi's "Afro-Dicia" show on KPFK. MySpace and YouTube are also invaluable resources, as are Banning Eyre's insightful book "In Griot Time" and Songlines, fRoots and Global Rhythm magazines. Even better, subscribe to the free podcasts offered by Afropop.org and National Geographic World Music (http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/home), in addition to the articles, glossaries, interviews, videos and myriad links (including many to radio programs) available at AfricanMusic.org, MondoMix.com, RootsWorld.com and WorldMusicCentral.org. And if you understand French, travel straight to Bamako via Radio Liberté's broadcasts at www.comfm.com/live/radio/radioliberte. It's a rewarding journey.
-By BLISS 03/06/08 >> go there
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