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Sample Track 1:
"Khaira" from Timbuktu Tarab
Sample Track 2:
"Djaba" from Timbuktu Tarab
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Concert Listing/Feature

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Africa Live News, Concert Listing/Feature >>

Malian artist Khaira Arby to play Johnny Brenda'sphillyBurbs.com

Malian jam and blues artist Khaira Arby and her band will perform at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia on July 8. Earlier this year, the iconic singer, who received the 2011 Tamani D'Or Award (Mali's highest musical honor), mesmerized audiences at several SXSW showcases for NPR, The Fader Fort, National Geographic Music and All Music is World Music.

Her intensity comes as much from her home as it does her unique spirit.

Born in a village not far from the famed city of Timbuktu, Arby is firmly planted in the desert sand. Her creativity flows in part from the people of her home region of Northern Mali — the young musicians in her band all hail from Timbuktu — and from their past and present struggles.

Her most recent album, "Timbuktu Tarab," shifts seamlessly between the edgy and progressive and the traditional and deeply rooted. Inspired by her cousin Ali Farka Toure, the renowned Malian guitarist and singer, Arby turns to her mixed Berber and Sonrhai roots and draws on a sweet mixture of desert blues and recording sophistication. Here, fierce electric guitar blends with the forefather of the banjo, while funky drum breaks meld with the traditional percussion of the scraper and the calabash.

Her songs, delivered in the four languages of her heritage, delve into history, with subject matter ranging from a legendary ancestral Tamashek warrior to the Tamasheks' struggle against colonial domination and the more contemporary struggles of salt mine workers. She is especially passionate in calling for better treatment of the women of Mali, where female circumcision remains a common practice.

Having been discouraged in her own life by relatives who did not approve of her public performances, Arby embraces her power through words, using them to convey both hope and struggle.

"I dream of a recording studio and cultural center in Timbuktu for young talent, and I want to struggle against war, sickness and poverty by recording albums in all the languages I can," she says. "I want to teach the daughters of the world, teach them to think, to value themselves, to sing."

Urban Shamans will open for her at Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave.

Show time: 9 p.m.
Tickets: $15.
Information: 215-739-9684

 07/01/11 >> go there
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