Boubacar Traoré took his guitar and strode out into the fields outside of Bamako, Mali. There, in the country quiet, he wrote a dozen new songs in a month.

"Town is too noisy. And I didn't go to the bush, but I left my guitar here, on my farm. Because I know here, I'm on a leash," says Traoré.

That leash, that connection to land and family, resulted in Mali Denhou (Lusafrica; June 14, 2011; distributed by Harmonia Mundi). On Traoré's first studio album in six years, the kindly, gritty voice of the veteran Malian bluesman intertwines with wonderfully idiosyncratic, cascading guitar. Wistful and pensive, Traoré exhorts, gives thanks, and reflects on love, history, and duty, with a deceptive simplicity and a deep, subtle knowledge of Mandingo tradition and West African vintage pop.

A legend in Mali since his groundbreaking hits of the 1960s, Traoré, possibly the eldest internationally-touring guitarist from Mali, has been around. He knows exactly what he wants. He insisted that if he was going to do a studio album, he had to have his longtime friend, the nimble French harmonica player Vincent Bucher, play with him. Bucher's rich, pure tone moves in and out of Traoré's succinct phrases and unexpected rhythms effortlessly on tracks like "Mondeou."
[Africa Review]

Malian blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Boubacar Traore is set to release his first studio album in six years, Mali Denhou, June 14 via Lusafrica. He comes to America for a short tour in the fall that starts at the Chicago World Music Festival and ends at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In between he plays a Brooklyn show at The Bell House on September 27. Tickets are on sale now. All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Boubacar Traoré releasing a new album, touring (dates)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Tinariwen @ (Le) Poisson Rouge in April (more by Tim Griffin)

Malian band Tinariwen recently won the 2009 Uncut Music Award for best album (given by Uncut Mag) for their record Imidiwan:Companions. The 11 member jury, which included Billy Bragg and Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, voted the album the "most inspiring and rewarding" of the past 12 months over the seven other entries including Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors. For a better idea of the sizable competition, the shortlist of nominees is below.

Tinariwen, who made a good impression at Coachella and played NYC's LPR both in April, will be coming to North American this February. The trip includes a pair of NYC shows: they return to Highline Ballroom on February 18th and then play a rare Brooklyn show (their first?) at The Bell House on February 19th. Ticket info TBA.

Also coming to the Highline in 2010 will be Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traore for a show on Saturday, April 17th, as part of the World Music Institute Presents: Songs of Mali series. Tickets are on sale. World Music Institute will also bring Nigarian juju legend King Sunny Ade to the Highline Ballroom on April 9th. Tickets are on sale.

For Rokia, the Highline show is somewhat of a makeup show after her Summer 2009 tour was cancelled.

On Friday, March 26th another Music of Mali show will happen with Bassekou Kouyate (who play the ngoni, a West African lute) at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. That'll be the New York debut of his band and Mali's "first ngoni quartet," Ngoni ba. Tickets are on sale now.

Videos of all four with the Uncut shortlist and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Tinariwen win an award, announce tour dates ++ upcoming King Sunny Ade, Rokia Traore & Bassekou Kouyate shows too"

STREAM: Amadou & Mariam - Sabali (produced by Damon Albarn) (MOV)
STREAM: Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali (MOV)


Back on November 21st I asked, "What is the best album of 2008?" In that post I listed the top ten albums according to Metacritic's aggregated critic-rating statistics. At the time, The Bug held the number one spot for his album "London Zoo".

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali was released on November 17th in the UK and hadn't even been listed on Metacritic yet. It appeared on the site a week or two after that, and it in turn knocked The Bug down to the number two spot. To this day "Welcome to Mali" holds the title of best rated album of 2008... even though it doesn't come out in the U.S. until March 24, 2009.

In June A&M will visit our country again, to give us some more of their great live shows...

The singer Mariam Doumbia and her husband, the guitarist/vocalist Amadou Bagayoko, have been making music together since they first met and fell in love at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako, Mali's capital, three decades ago. Over the last few years, they have achieved remarkable critical and popular acclaim in Europe and North America.

Amadou & Mariam are especially beloved for their live shows - they recently performed in the Africa Express event that was part of the BBC Electric Proms festival; the concert also featured Johnny Marr, The Magic Numbers, Damon Albarn, and Hard-Fi as well as numerous African artists. They will be headlining a Spring tour and will be opening for Coldplay in July.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for a June 8th headlining date at Webster Hall in NYC. Last time they were here was for All Points West.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Amadou & Mariam - 2009 Tour Dates, new album, streams"